West Bromwich Albion, despite their recent bumpy form, will still have Premier League football on their minds with promotion the ultimate goal to cap off an overall pleasing season.

Carlos Corberan's men will need Brandon Thomas-Asante on top form for the upcoming playoffs if they are to be successful in their mission to move back up to the top flight, with the former Salford City striker experiencing notable dips in form across the gruelling campaign to date.

His performance against Sunderland in the middle of the month even saw BBC Radio West Midlands commentator Tony Brown brand the 25-year-old striker as "terrible", needlessly picking up a red card to help gift the Black Cats a rare Championship win.

Thomas-Asante's rich goalscoring form this season – which has seen him bag 12 goals – means he isn't a complete lost cause, unlike one former Baggies dud who failed majorly during his disastrous one-season stay at the Hawthorns.

Rickie Lambert's time at West Brom

West Brom must have thought they'd managed to seal a great deal for a prolific goalscorer when they signed Rickie Lambert back in 2015, coming into the building after Albion splashed £3m on the ex-Southampton hero.

Lambert had found the back of the net an astounding 117 times from 235 games on the South Coast, before a move to Liverpool became all too much for the experienced centre-forward to handle after leaving the Saints behind with just three pitiful goals netted from 36 games at Anfield.

The Baggies would have hoped this was just a momentary blip before Lambert recaptured his groove again, hence gambling on his signature to come good, but his goalscoring woes playing for the Reds would end up following him to the West Midlands.

The lofty 6 foot 2 attacker would manage an even worse goal return for West Brom, however, only firing in one strike from 26 total games.

It wasn't just Lambert's hefty transfer fee that would have troubled the West Midlands outfit financially, with his excessive salary bleeding the club dry during his torrid one-season stay.

Lambert even ended up earning two times Thomas-Asante's current pay packet of £20k-per-week at the then Premier League club, despite the former Salford man being far more efficient in front of goal in the here and now than the notable dud was.

Lambert's wage at West Brom

Taking into account his £3m transfer fee, and his hefty £43k-per-week salary, Lambert ending up draining the Baggies of an excessive £5.2m despite only playing 26 games for the club in the ill-fated move.

Amazingly, Lambert's wage during the 2015-16 campaign didn't even put him amongst the top five earners at the Hawthorns with the likes of Salomon Rondon swimming in cash at £60k-per-week.

1. Salomon Rondon

£60k per week

2. Darren Fletcher

£52k per week

3. Ben Foster

£50k per week

4. Jonny Evans

£47k per week

5. Jonas Olsson

£45k per week

Sourced by Capology

In contrast, looking at Corberan's current camp, he would just pip Adam Reach as raking in the most cash who earns £3k-per-week less than Lambert.

Unfortunately for the once deadly ex-Saints man, his next move to Cardiff City after West Brom would also see him endure lengthy barren patches in front of goal – only scoring two times during his first nine Bluebirds matches, with both of those strikes coming in one contest.

He would announce his retirement shortly after in 2017, with his short stint at the Baggies surely not one he fondly goes back to when reminiscing about his playing days.

Wage Burners

Football FanCast's Wage Burners series explores the salaries of the modern-day game.