West Brom talent Harry Whitwell ready to be James Morrison's pre-season star

Harry Whitwell is now firmly in West Bromwich Albion's first-team picture heading into the 2026-27 pre-season.

The 20-year-old attacking midfielder spent the first half of last season out on loan with National League side Forest Green Rovers.

However, after impressing under the management of Robbie Savage, West Brom decided to recall him to The Hawthorns during the January transfer window.

Whitwell signed his first professional contract with West Brom in November 2022, just days after celebrating his 17th birthday.

Since then, he's gone on to make seven competitive first-team appearances for Albion, with his professional debut coming against Aldershot Town in the FA Cup in January 2024.

And so, after making 12 matchday squads in the Championship last term with two appearances, the youngster is now primed for a big pre-season opportunity this summer.

Harry Whitwell's FA Cup stats paint exiting West Brom picture

Despite getting on the pitch twice in the Championship for West Brom last season, that only culminated in just four minutes of league action.

Therefore, to better assess where he's at in his development, we need to look at his production in last season's FA Cup.

Whitwell played three times in the FA Cup proper in 2025-26, once for Forest Green and twice for Albion respectively.

Still not a huge sample size, his 174 minutes of cup action did at least give him and Albion's coaching staff a lengthier look at his ability.

He absolutely made the most of his time across these matches too, despite being unable to provide a goal contribution of any kind.

As per FotMob, Whitwell ranked in the top three percentile of all attacking midfielders to have played in the FA Cup proper last term for duels won (9.83) and possessions won in the final third per 90 (2.07) respectively.

Meanwhile, his 2.07 aerial duels won and 6.21 recoveries per game placed him in the leading 6.6 and 6.1 per cent of his positional peers in the competition.

Whitwell also won 3.10 fouls, created 2.07 chances, completed 1.55 successful dribbles and won 0.52 penalties per 90 respectively.

Flashing his defensive abilities as well as his attacking traits, his 3.10 tackles won per game also put him in the top 9.1 per cent of attacking midfielders in the FA Cup last season.

What is Whitwell's West Brom contract situation?

Those three FA Cup proper outings for Whitwell came against Norwich and Swansea City for West Brom, and Luton Town for Forest Green respectively.

With that in mind, his numbers from last season's competition only become more impressive considering they came against quality opposition.

Whitwell will turn 21 in mid-November, meaning the versatile midfielder is now coming towards the end of his youth football career.

The same can be said for his Albion contract too, as he penned a two-year extension with the Baggies last August, meaning his deal will expire next summer.

So, 2026-27 really is going to be a watershed season for Whitwell at The Hawthorns, and so James Morrison is surely going to want to get a good look at him in pre-season.

With the likes of Jed Wallace and Daryl Dike leaving as free agents, as well as loanees returning to parent clubs, Whitwell should have a very good chance of playing a big role for Morrison over the summer.