Credit: Imago

James Barker

Fri 10 April 2026 9:00, UK

West Bromwich Albion play Millwall on Friday night, and they must be concerned that their former defender Caleb Taylor will return to haunt The Hawthorns.

The 23-year-old left West Brom in this season’s summer transfer window, signing for Millwall in a permanent transfer.

Having joined Albion at Under-10 level, Taylor had worked his way through the youth ranks before eventually making his first-team debut back in August 2021.

From there, however, the centre-back found it tough to win a place in the senior side, and was sent out on numerous loans to the likes of Cheltenham, Bolton and Wycombe Wanderers respectively.

And now, with just five games to go this season, West Brom chiefs will probably wish he wasn’t on the opposing side this Friday.

Why Millwall’s Caleb Taylor can hurt West Brom

Taylor has been excellent for Millwall during his debut season at The Den, and has established himself as a key member of Alex Neil’s starting lineup.

West Brom reportedly banked around £2.5million for Taylor from the Lions, but if they could go back to August last year when the transfer happened, they’d surely give up that cash injection to keep him in B71.

A duel-winning demon for Millwall, Taylor and Jake Cooper have formed one of the best and most dominant centre-back partnerships in the Championship this season.

Both big central defenders, the duo are seldom beaten in the air or in the tackle, and have both contributed their fair share of goals to their sides’ promotion push.

Cooper has netted four times and provided one assist in 40 Championship appearances, whilst Taylor has chipped in with three goals and two assists in 25 league outings respectively.

Two of those goals and both of those assists have arrived in the calendar year of 2026 too, and he’s probably overdue his next goal contribution, with his last one being an assist against Sheffield United on 31 January.

West Brom have their own excellent centre-back duo forming

Friday’s game is going to be a massive one at both ends of the table, and both team’s centre-back partnerships are sure to play a huge role in the match.

We’ve spoken about the quality and threat of Cooper and Taylor, but West Brom have their own partnership brewing with George Campbell and Nat Phillips.

The two have been superb starting alongside each other over the last few weeks, with Campbell in particular now playing his best football in his natural role, as he’s had to play full-back for a considerable part of the season largely due to injuries.

If Albion can stay up this season, then building the defence around those two seems like a good place to start this summer, and they’ll be confident of putting on a strong enough display to earn the Baggies a result against Millwall.