Can West Bromwich Albion morph into genuine promotion contenders under Ryan Mason?
At the moment, Mason’s Baggies are wildly inconsistent in the Championship, with a middle-of-the-road finish looking likely if they can’t string together a consistent run of victories sooner rather than later.
The jam-packed December fixture schedule to come will be a big test as to whether West Brom can push up the league, or whether they will have to make do with Championship action for yet another season, having now been outside the Premier League since the close of the 2020/21 campaign.
Whatever does happen, West Brom still have several first-team players out of contract come next June, with West Brom veterans such as Jed Wallace and Josh Maja both at risk of walking away for nothing.
This isn’t new ground for the second-tier outfit, though, with Grady Diangana bringing his up-and-down Baggies career to a close this summer, when his deal expired.
Why Diangana was allowed to leave West Brom
Once upon a time, Diangana would cost West Brom a startling £18m to get through the door from West Ham United.
He demanded such a lavish fee back in the summer of 2020, too, having instantly stood out in the Championship for his new West Midlands employers, with his gung-ho performances in attack.
In total, the Congolese forward would chip in with a sturdy 26 goals and 22 assists from 202 appearances, with Carlos Corberan regularly relying on the magic of his former number 11 when his past Baggies sides were challenging for promotion.
Yet, after mustering up a standout 15 goal contributions under Corberan during West Brom’s promotion near-miss season of 2023/24 , it all began to become a bit pear-shaped for the ex-Hammers winger at the Hawthorns.
Indeed, last season saw Diangana bow out from West Brom as a bit-part figure, with only 14 starts coming his way across a campaign that saw the Baggies fall drastically short of the top six.
With the 27-year-old also reluctant to pen a fresh deal, it was, therefore, agreed that Diangana would walk away from his long-established home, bringing his extensive association with the club to a sad end.
In the here and now, with more contract situations up in the air at the Championship outfit, Mason could have a new Diangana situation unfolding.
West Brom star could be another Diangana
In a summer that saw some of the old guard, such as Diangana leave the building, Mason was also given the appropriate tools to instil some fresh blood into his ranks, with Aune Heggebo already up to six Championship goals for the season, after making the move to England from Brann.
While Mason will be impressed with the current goalscoring exploits of his Nordic recruit, he also has many relics from Corberan’s West Brom past still in his starting XI, with Karlan Grant managing to get minutes here and there under the new regime.
Much like Diangana before him, Grant was once seen as an eye-catching capture when the West Midlands outfit were regularly flirting between the Championship and the Premier League, with £15m dropped on his services in 2020.
In a similar fashion to his former attacking teammate, too, Grant became known as an explosive attacking talent in the EFL’s elite league during the early years of his Baggies career, with pundit Carlton Palmer also praising him for his versatile” edge, even when things weren’t always going his way under Corberan.
Grant’s league numbers at West Brom under Mason | |
|---|---|
Stat | Grant |
Games played | 12 |
Games started | 6 |
Average minutes | 54 mins |
Goals scored | 0 |
Assists | 0 |
Stats by Sofascore | |
Yet, even with 31 goals and ten assists under his belt from 158 total contests, it does look as if the plug will be pulled soon on the number ten’s bumper Hawthorns stay, when you consider he has zero goals or assists from 12 outings under Mason.
With his contract also set to expire this approaching June, it does feel as if it’s a move that suits all parties for his deal to run out without a renewal coming his way, as his past best looks to be far beyond him.
He could, of course, still manage to chip in with a goal or assist this season, having collected seven goals across all of last campaign from inconsistent starting opportunities.
But, with Mason now infrequently starting him this campaign amid poor performances, he is unlikely to want to keep him around, whatever division West Brom end up in when contract renewals pop back up.
Mason must now bin West Brom star who earns more than Heggebo & Johnston
Ryan Mason must now axe this West Bromwich Albion high earner for good.
