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West Bromwich Albion have held further positive talks with Liverpool and Rickie Lambert but will have to wait until next week to conclude the transfer.

Lambert will not leave Liverpool’s pre-season tour of Asia but the the 33-year-old is nevertheless still expected to move to the Baggies and become their second pre-season signing.

He is due to face a Malaysian Select side on Friday.

Lambert has only 12 months remaining on his contract and so the fee, expected to be around £3million, and the terms won’t be a problem with the bulk of the framework to the deal having now been put in place.

Albion’s interest in Colombian striker Adrian Ramos now rests on the level of fee demanded by Borussia Dortmund.

Albion have a strong interest in QPR pair Matt Phillips and Steven Caulker.

QPR’s imminent signing of former Wolves attacking midfielder Adlene Guedioura may just be the chink Tony Pulis needs for QPR to relent on their £10 million valuation of Phillips.

Albion have been keeping an eye on Charlie Austin’s future but any move for the striker at the moment looks unlikely with Newcastle, West Ham and Villa among a clutch of clubs ready to start the bidding.

PICTURES - Albion's ins and outs this summer:

Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has ruled his club out of the race for Austin and Albion will find themselves in a similar situation.

“I think there is lots of clubs interested in him,” Parish said. “There is probably a good chance he will go beyond us, I would suggest.”

Crystal Palace have given QPR keeper Alex McCarthy a medical ahead of a £3m move to Selhurst Park which should lead to Wayne Hennessey arriving at The Hawthorns, although the Welsh keeper has flown to South Africa with Palace so any deal will not be imminent.

Albion have no real interest in Inter Milan’s Japanese full-back Yuto Nagatomo who has also been linked with Stoke City.

Similarly they are not pursuing any deals for Nice forward Alassane Plea, nor have they an interest in former Blackburn Rovers full back Bryan Dabo at Montpellier who had also been linked.

Albion skipper Darren Fletcher has spoken of the need for new signings on the back of their three game US tour.

“Nobody has picked up injuries and we have only got small numbers,” he said.

“I know the manager is desperate to get players in and we’re going to need those players because we’re relatively short of numbers.

“The biggest thing on the pre-season trips was not picking up injuries because we need everybody for the start of the season and we’re desperate for a few numbers to come in. I know the manager is as well so hopefully we can make that happen.”