Isaac Price must be ready to step up to key West Brom role after early pre-season hint
Isaac Price will be central to West Bromwich Albion’s this season if they are to improve on their 2025-26 campaign.
Although the season ended on a positive note, it cannot be ignored that, from an Albion perspective, the overall Championship campaign was woeful.
After the dismal tenures of Ryan Mason and Eric Ramsay, the Baggies turned to former midfielder James Morrison to steady the ship.
He did exactly that, overseeing a 10-match unbeaten run that secured Championship status for the Black Country club.
Now, Morrison is leading Albion into his first full-season as head coach, and as West Brom News previously studied, has already given some hints as to what his plans with the squad may be.
When it comes to Price, he must be ready to step up to a key leading role as Morrison builds around the Northern Irishman.
How was Isaac Price used as West Brom opened pre-season?
West Brom opened their pre-season account with a 3-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday at St. George's Park on Saturday.
Krystian Bielik would open the scoring with a header, before goals from new man Jimmy-Jay Morgan and Alex Mowatt completed the comfortable win.
With the first-half XI made up of youngsters, Morrison would make changes in the second half, though it would take Price 60 minutes to appear alongside Jayson Molumby, with the pair replacing Souleyman Mandey and Cole Deeming.
After relying on experience and common-sense at the back end of last season, the Baggies boss took a good chance to take a look at a good handful of youngsters on Saturday - including highly rated pair Deeming and Mandey.
If this suggests anything to Price and Molumby, it is that fitness is the only pre-season aim for those two, with Morrison not needing to do too much analysis.
With Price in mind, this makes complete sense.
After an excellent start last season, the 22-year-old tailed off at the mid-point of the season, but burst back into life again following Morrison's formation shift.
If Morrison is to mould the team around anyone this summer, Price is absolutely the man, and the fact that youngsters appear to be being built up around him only points in the direction that he is the fit for the left-hand-side this season.
How will James Morrison get the best out of Price?
If Price is to become the main man at The Hawthorns next season, he needs to step up into the role he is being built for.
On the left, he is able to drift into the central zones he so craves, with the non-stop energy of Callum Styles on the outside complimenting him perfectly.
He is always looking to make something happen, and it is not often that he stops doing exactly that, even when things are not going his way.
And to step up, he will have to add yet more goals, yet more assists, and become a leader in a group that desperately needed one at times last season.
Price has bags of talent, and he has the potential to be a real difference maker at the top end of the standings.
Heading into the season, Morrison must continue placing that faith in him, and ensure that he is his talisman, because it will only elevate the midfielder to another level.