West Brom must back Quevin Castro over Alex Mowatt after thunderous free-kick
West Brom might not have played over the weekend but that didn’t stop one of their players making waves while out on loan.
Quevin Castro failed to make an impact at Burton Albion in League One and so terminated his deal at the Pirelli Stadium early to seek a move to Notts County in the National League.
And on his first start for the Magpies away at York City, it took him just four minutes to light up the LNER Community Stadium with a stunning 35-yeard free-kick.
Notts County’s official Twitter account described the Cristiano Ronaldo-esque strike as “Goal of the Season” as they shared the replay of the goal that evening after previously sending them mental earlier in the day.
County went on to win 3-1 as they kept the heat on Chesterfield and Wrexham in what is looking like a three-horse race for a Football League return.
Fortunes are not so handsome for another West Brom loanee in the form of Alex Mowatt, though, with the 27-year-old not performing up to standards for Middlesbrough so far this season.
He was even hooked off at half-time in Boro’s most recent game by manager Chris Wilder and he is not proving Steve Bruce wrong whatsoever at the moment, unlike Castro.
Both would be set to return to The Hawthorns next summer and if the same trajectory continues, then there is only one player who the manager should be looking to bring into the senior squad.
It isn’t Mowatt.
Castro is still comfortably young enough to learn and progress with the Baggies and become a very dangerous midfielder at a Championship level.
He was given no chances to prove that at The Hawthorns before his loan to Burton and then Notts County but once he gets a run of games under his belt, he will soon show Bruce what he could be missing.
In other West Brom news, Castro is one of 11 players to have their contracts expiring at the end of the season and two of them have only just arrived in the Midlands.