View: West Brom made summer mistake by releasing youngster who’s on fire at PL rivals
Jake Wakeling has scored three goals in three appearances for Leicester City’s under 23 side after being released by West Brom in the summer.
The 19-year-old joined non-league side Alvechurch following his release before being snapped up by the Foxes.
He failed to score on his debut for the Leicester youth side but followed his blank up with a brace against Brighton’s under 23’s before notching again against Tottenham.
Wakeling could be one to watch over the coming years and some Baggies fans may be left scratching their heads with the club seemingly letting another youth player with potential leave the club.
A few years ago the Baggies released a 17-year-old Marcus Forss from their youth set-up and he went on to join Championship side Brentford.
He has broken into the Bees’ first team this season and currently has seven goals in 16 competitive appearances this term including a goal against the Baggies in the Carabao Cup.
With Albion seriously lacking in front of goal this season it is so frustrating that it looks like another good young striker may have slipped through the fingers of the Baggies academy.
Of course, Wakeling has only played three games for his new club and it remains to be seen how he will develop at Leicester after only scoring four goals in 39 outings for the West Brom under 18 side.
But it seems as though the Foxes could have uncovered a gem that was missed by the Baggies youth set up and if Wakeling does prove to be a success in the future many fans will be left wondering how this keeps happening.
The Baggies simply can’t let quality young players leave the club for nothing, especially to other Premier League sides.
This is something that needs to be examined closely by the club as these players need to be playing and scoring for the Baggies rather than hitting form for rival clubs.
In other West Brom news, Slaven Bilic has explained where a Baggies youth prospect needs to improve.
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