Brandon Thomas-Asante wowed by West Brom graduates as forward eyes promotion
West Brom forward Brandon Thomas-Asante has revealed his excitement about the string of talented graduates looking to break through into the first team at the Hawthorns.
Baggies boss Carlos Corberan has given a number of youngsters a chance in the pre-season games so far, with Caleb Taylor, Tom Fellows, Mo Faal, Jovan Malcolm, Ethan Ingram, Jamie Andrews and Harry Whitwell all handed opportunities.
Speaking to the Express and Star, Asante gave a glowing report on some of the emerging talents and believes they can play a role in the overall goal of gaining promotion to the Premier League.
“If I was them I would be excited,” said the 24-year-old striker. “As a young player, you hope you’re in a squad where there are potential opportunities to burst through, and the young boys have all done well.
“Caleb had an amazing loan at Cheltenham, and I’ve got friends there who spoke highly of him. I’d heard about how good he was and he is a unit.
“Tom Fellows came on and me and Grady (Diangana) were so excited watching him play, he’s quick, sharp, aggressive, an out-and-out winger and we love to see that.
“Mo Faal has great stature that speaks for itself, Jovan applies himself so well, Zac even though he’s gone on loan, he done well.
“I could go through them all, and the fans should know there is so much youth coming through and they could turn out to be like new signings.
“We all know we want to get the best from ourselves, the goal is to get promoted and the young boys are aware of that and are ready for it.”
Promising
It’ll no doubt be pleasing for the fans to hear from the Baggies forward that he believes there are so many promising young players coming through at the club after seeing them play during pre-season.
The forward clearly likes to see youth given a chance and it’s no surprise after he had to make his way into professional football the hard way following a spell at Ebbsfleet United before being picked up by Salford City and then eventually making his £300,000 move to West Brom.
Asante will probably also see himself as a potential role model to some of the young players as he also had to work for his spot in the first team following his arrival at the Hawthorns last summer.
While the fans will understandably be craving new signings as the start of the new season draws closer, they will be delighted to see that there are a number of talented academy graduates coming through and that Coberan is giving them a chance.
It will be interesting to see how many of them are involved in the first-team picture once the season gets underway in less than two weeks’ time.
In other West Brom news, one club has enquired about a senior Baggies player.