West Brom fighting to keep Reyes Cleary and Josh Shaw on professional terms – report
West Brom are battling to keep academy duo Reyes Cleary and Josh Shaw at the club on professional terms, with both wanted by Premier League clubs according to The Athletic.
The Baggies have struggled with retaining their top talents in recent times, losing a bucketload of prospects to Aston Villa, Chelsea and Liverpool most recently.
Now, despite offering professional contracts to both Cleary and Shaw, they face losing both players as neither have agreed to terms and put pen to paper.
The Athletic say that Clearly is wanted by several clubs across Europe as well as in the Premier League, while Shaw has got Premier League suitors too.
Other youth players such as Reece Hall and Samuel Okoka are also due to be offered new deals by the club before the end of the season.
Priority
With the way that the club are performing on the pitch, it seems unlikely that a return to the Premier League will happen any time soon without some serious changes.
That means they need to start planning for the future more efficiently and that means prioritising a pathway for their academy starlets to break into the first-team.
Taylor Gardner-Hickman has shown it’s possible this season, arguably being the best and most consistent performer for the first-team this season under both Valerien Ismael and Steve Bruce.
But with top clubs targeting their starlets, it seems incredibly difficult for them to plan for the future because they could end up losing them before they even get there.
The club need to adjust their budgets to be able to compete somewhat financially in their youth prospects, or risk a dark future in the second tier.
In other West Brom news, Michael Appleton wants to sign West Brom player as major decisions near.
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