Carlos Corberan tells Jeremy Sarmiento what he ‘must achieve’ to earn first league start at West Brom
Jeremy Sarmiento “must achieve” the “habit” of playing more minutes to break into the starting XI at West Brom, boss Carlos Corberan has said.
The Ecuador winger, on loan from Brighton, has featured in all five Championship fixtures for West Brom this season but his only appearance as a starter came in the Carabao Cup.
Sarmiento missed four months with a broken foot last term and is still building up his fitness, including playing in a training match at The Hawthorns during the international break.
Baggies boss Corberan told Sarmiento, in quotes reported by the Express & Star, what he has to do to get that elusive Championship start.
“In the week before the Huddersfield game I saw an improvement in his performance level in training,” Corberan said.
“The game during the break we played three 30 minutes and he was suffering in the middle 30, but we achieved the target to complete this. We have made one important step – psychological and physical.
“The good thing is that the mentality of Jeremy is excellent. He has a high level of determination to be an important player and to get to the player where he wants to be.
“Before the international break, I had one target – not to lose Jeremy in any of the training or games.
“One player who didn’t play a lot in the previous year and then was four months out injured, you are not going to change this quickly. If you accelerate this process, you are going to lose this player. Still, he must get the habit to play more minutes. How you can get the habit? That’s the challenge.
“Playing and playing and playing without the worry of whether he performs or not? Performances affect results and we need results here. So Jeremy must achieve this in training.”
Time to unleash him
What Corberan says here makes complete sense.
There is no denying that any player needs to be at their physical and mental best to perform to their top level on the pitch, especially a gifted talent like Sarmiento.
He has had injury trouble and a lack of game time means it is not easy to get that fluency of regular football.
Having said all of that, there is only one way to find that fluency and to find that top level, and that is by playing football.
West Brom have made an okay start to the campaign with a couple of wins, a draw, and two defeats – including to Huddersfield Town before the international break.
But there is significant room for improvement and a player like Sarmiento could be a real wildcard for West Brom this season as they look to put themselves right into the equation for promotion.
It’s time to unleash this key weapon.
In other West Brom news, Corberan has said Grady Diangana a challenge at The Hawthorns.