West Brom offered Tom Lowery trial before Portsmouth move
West Brom had made an approach for central midfielder Tom Lowery to train with the squad before his recent switch to League One.
The 24-year-old joined Portsmouth on Friday (5 August) after being released by Crewe Alexandra when his contract expired at the end of the 2021-22 campaign.
‘Miniesta’ – as he is known – was unable to feature for Pompey in their second game of the new season but he did speak to Portsmouth News about why he chose the South Coast over The Hawthorns.
“I had been in talks with other clubs but felt this was the right club and the right opportunity for me,” Lowery said. “West Brom asked me to go and train, but I felt that it wasn’t something I wanted to do at that moment.
“Then the interest from Pompey and a few other clubs happened – and, in the end, I felt Pompey was the right place for me. I knew about the club already, it’s massive with a massive fanbase, so I felt this was the right place for me.”
Missed opportunity
Signing a player who has just been relegated from the division below, and emphatically so, might seem like a bad move but it could have been a stroke of genius by Steve Bruce had he pulled it off.
Lowery would finally fill a midfield gap that Jake Livermore has been unable to do for so long in that he can create chances from deep positions.
Standing at only five-foot, six-inches, Lowery has an incredibly low centre of gravity and that makes him supremely agile and a nightmare to keep quiet for the opposition team.
His technical ability is also exemplary and he was the only Crewe player who looked to be making an effort to survive at times and he could have linked up so well with John Swift and his fellow attackers.
Alas, West Brom will have to look elsewhere for a creative midfielder in a deeper position but this could prove to be a mistake from the club if Lowery can lead Pompey to promotion this season.
In other West Brom news, after teasing a potential first-team appearance on Instagram, this Albion starlet eventually played for the Under-21s on Monday.
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