West Brom: Jayson Molumby could quit The Hawthorns in January after Corberan ‘decision’ claim
Jayson Molumby could be forced to quit West Brom in January after a lack of game time this season after Carlos Corberan admitted that to play the Irishman, a decision has to be made on another midfielder.
These quotes seemed to hint that Okay Yokuslu, Nathaniel Chalobah and Alex Mowatt are all ahead of Molumby in the pecking order under Corberan.
The boss spoke highly of Molumby, labelling him an important player, but with just two starts from his last 15 appearances in all competitions, actions must speak louder than words.
Speaking to Birmingham Live on 15 December, Corberan shared: “Molumby is an important player for us, and always as a coach you evaluate players and how they are playing and training.
“It’s true that in some moments if you play Molumby you need to make a decision if you play Okay, Chalobah or Mowatt. We have four strong midfielders, this is one of our strengths.
“Normally I like to play with two midfielders and with a playmaker, two wingers and one striker. Twice this season we have played with Molumby as a number ten – the first game in the league and Tuesday.
“We usually use a playmaker as a number ten rather than a midfielder, in this moment you need to select two midfielders, two good players are going to be on the bench and two are going to start the game.”
On the surface, the comments point to strength in depth and a difficult selection process in midfield, but given Molumby’s lack of involvement compared to his competition, things don’t look like they will improve for the Irishman.
By comparison, Mowatt and Yokuslu seem to be the preferred duo when both are fit, with the former having started 12 of his 19 appearances this season, while the latter has started 18 of his 20.
Both of them, when they are available, tend to start, whereas Molumby is seen are more of a rotation option to fill in from the bench when another is tired, and as a regular Ireland international, he will likely be seeking more stable and reliable domestic game time.
West Brom also find themselves in a tricky situation in which they need to sell players in the transfer window to balance the books – regardless of the progress in their ongoing takeover talks.
This may mean Molumby is one of the first on the chopping block, with midfield an area that already has plenty of strength in depth and would not overly suffer from losing one of the lesser-used players, which may cause issues elsewhere.
In other West Brom news, a loanee may return in January after his boss made a “banish” promise.