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Tony Pulis has been told by West Brom owner Guochuan Lai he will have a club-record budget for new signings this summer, the Birmingham Mail understands.

Pulis spent a couple of days in Lai's home city of Guangzhou earlier this week after flying out to China following the conclusion of the 2016/17 Premier League campaign.

Having navigated the season with one of the top flight's oldest and smallest squads, financing player recruitment was a hot topic for Pulis.

It's thought Albion's Chinese owner is prepared to free up funds that would see the Club invest record sums of cash over the summer transfer.

The war chest at the manager's disposal is expected to be in the region of £40 million.

The Baggies still have around £15 million that was put aside to bring in Spanish midfielder Ignacio Camacho from Malaga last summer.

A further £15 million from the sale of Saido Berahino in January and £1.5 million from the proceeds of Craig Gardner's permanent transfer to Birmingham City.

And Lai, who completed a £175 million takeover of West Brom last July, is likely to stump up more cash in the hope Pulis will deliver another top ten finish.

Pulis knows he must freshen the squad and admitted earlier this month that a significant sum of cash would need to be spent just to ensure the Club stood still against its rivals.

"I think it’s going to cost more money every year to improve, that's the way it is," Pulis said.

"But you have to get the right players.

"It's not just about bringing players in and spending money, you have to spend the money in the right way and they have to be the right characters and the right players."

In recent seasons, Albion have had to sell players to balance the books on incomings.

Albion spent upwards of £30 million in the summer of 2015, but recouped a portion of that figure from the departures of Brown Ideye, Graham Dorrans, Joleon Lescott and Kemar Roofe.

Another £22 million was spent on new signings last year, but the Baggies received around £10 million from the sale of James Chester, Rickie Lambert and Cristian Gamboa.

Spending within the Club's means remains a legacy left over by former Chairman Jeremy Peace.

Who could he spend it on?

But the budget this summer is understood to be independent of sales and should continue to make Albion competitive on wages in comparison to similar sized clubs.

Pulis is keen to supplement his transfer allowance by selling Callum McManaman, his first signing as West Brom manager in January 2015.

The Welshman accepts the club will likely take a loss on a player that cost £4.75 million, but sees no Hawthorns future for the winger at the Hawthorns.

Long servant Jonas Olsson departed in March while another player will be off the wage bill come July with Albion set to release Sebastien Pocognoli when his contract expires.

Watford striker Troy Deeney remains one of Albion's top targets up front while Pulis still hasn't given up hope of landing Sporting Lisbon's coveted midfielder William Carvalho.

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