It was the Graham Potter answer which took a few people by surprise.

The observation which might leave fans wondering what will happen between now and close of business on January 31.

Albion’s head coach was at the top table for his weekly press conference.

He was being asked about transfers. Comings and goings. Of course he was. It’s January, after all.

The message so far is that Albion are open for business but comfortable enough with what they have – which includes in attack.

Potter was asked whether he was happy with the size of his squad and his answer offered a bit more than just a dead bat.

He said: “I have no issues with the numbers.

“Our job is to try and improve the quality of the players we have here and that is what we are focusing on.”

Then he added: “In the last two transfer windows in the summer, everyone is screaming you must do this and you must do that because that is how the world is.

“They want an external solution.

“At Swansea we lost players and we improved.

“We got less numbers and we improved.

“In Sweden, we didn’t sign anybody and we went through the Europa League to the last 32.

“Sometimes you can actually improve the players that you have got.

“We want to try and do that.”

Don’t rule out any business of course. Potter said: “Any transfer window, you have got to look to see if there are any options.

“But I don’t take my focus away from the group that I have got.

“There is no point signing somebody for the sake of it. I don’t see the point of that.”

Albion are keeping an eye out for a striker who offers something different to Neal Maupay and Aaron Connolly.

And indeed something different to Glenn Murray because the evidence we have seen to date suggests Murray does not really fit the gameplan.

Someone like Potter’s former Swansea hitman Oliver McBurnie – but not McBurnie himself, of course - is the type who would complement what they have.

Murray’s name continues to come up a lot in these press conferences.

That in itself is testament to what he has done for the club, and indeed for other clubs, over more than a decade.

But those who have seen Potter work close at hand know he has his own ideas on how to make most of his resources.

The unwanted scenario up front is for Connolly and Maupay to be absent at the same time.

That would open the door for Murray again, wouldn’t it?

Or necessitate some rapid action in the January marketplace?

I’m not sure it would. I wonder whether Potter would have another plan up his sleeve.

Something less obvious. Maybe Leandro Trossard or even Pascal Gross as false No.9s. Something unexpected.

That is not based on any whispers from the camp or answers from Potter.

It is just a long-time Albion watcher thinking aloud after seeing how this head coach works.

It comes from someone who would love to see Murray go out in style and has enjoyed his work for 12 years now – ever since wondering why on earth he was only on the bench on that first night at Northampton.

What Potter spoke about from his Swansea days is what the Americans like to call ‘addition by subtraction’.

Over here, what we tend to demand at this time of year is addition by addition.

Potter wants progress, whoever is involved.

He said: “I have got a good group of players. They have not reached a maximum. It’s not as if I am sitting here thinking ‘We are getting every last bit out of this group here – they can’t improve, we have to do something’.

“I think our players can still improve. I think we can get better and that’s exciting.”