Villa would receive an initial £3m plus an extra £500,000 in add-ons for the 22-year-old.

It gives Baggies boss Tony Mowbray an array of forward talent for the final quarter of the campaign with Moore competing with his former Villa team-mate Kevin Phillips, Ishmael Miller, Roman Bednar and Craig Beattie.

Moore, whose brother Stefan also had a spell with Villa before moving to QPR and then Millwall, was regarded as one of the country’s brightest young prospects when he broke into the first team three years ago.

But the England Under-21 player has struggled to make an impact for the majority of the Martin O’Neill era.

Moore started 2006-2007 in the first team as a wide player in a 4-5-1 line-up but a long-term shoulder injury worsened and surgery meant he missed the majority of that campaign.

This season the former Academy player impressed when scoring in the 2-0 win over Chelsea in early September but since then he has gradually slipped down the pecking order.

He has not tasted first-team action since the FA Cup defeat by Manchester United in early January.

Moore’s days at Villa looked numbered when he refused a new contract before Christmas although Villa took up a 12-month option, which means he is contracted to the club until the summer of 2009.

Rangers expressed an interest in signing Moore during the January transfer window but the move never materialised.

In recent games Moore has been unable to make even the substitutes’ bench following the emergence of Marlon Harewood to challenge John Carew, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Shaun Maloney for a place in the starting line-up.

Albion’s interest in Moore has been common knowledge for some weeks and the formal completion of the loan deal will be timed to ensure he would be available to contest the play-off final at Wembley should Albion fail to gain automatic promotion.

However, Villa boss Martin O’Neill will have a 24-hour recall option on the player after the initial 28-day period.