Romaine Sawyers axed from West Brom squad v Bournemouth amid Stoke City interest
West Brom midfielder Romaine Sawyers has been left out of their squad for the trip to Bournemouth tonight amid interest from Stoke City, according to Pete Smith.
The StokeOnTrent journalist, writing via his personal Twitter profile on Friday afternoon, claims the 29-year-old is subject to interest from West Brom’s Championship rivals.
Smith wrote: “It seems that Romaine Sawyers has been left out of the West Brom squad tonight for Championship opener at Bournemouth. Stoke understood to be interested.”
Not fit for Ismael?
Sawyers is a product of the Albion youth academy and was hailed upon his return after joining from Brentford in 2018.
However, he enjoyed a torrid 2020/21 campaign as Albion were meekly relegated from the Premier League.
After starting most of the first half of the season he was a peripheral figure during the latter stages as the loan trio of Conor Gallagher, Okay Yokuslu and Ainsley Maitland-Niles took centre stage.
Jake Livermore looks to have won his place back in midfield under Valerien Ismael, and looks set to start in midfield alongside new recruit Alex Mowatt tonight.
But it appears that there is no room for Sawyers, despite a lack of senior central midfielders at the club.
It always looked likely when Ismael was appointed at The Hawthorns.
Sawyers is famed for his more languid style of play, trying to control the tempo with his passing.
Energy and intensity are not his strong points, and that’s something which is likely to count against him under Ismael.
Albion need a new central midfielder and we are light in that area currently, but it looks like Sawyers’ time is up.
In other West Brom news, Wayne Rooney reacts to major Albion transfer question.
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