Carlos Corberan showed last season that he won't hesitate in giving youth a chance at the Hawthorns, exemplified in the quick rise of Tom Fellows in the West Bromwich Albion first-team.
The homegrown Baggies product ended up amassing five goals and four assists from 39 games in all competitions, after being given his first big break in the senior mix throughout the course of 2023/24, with Fellows wanting to push on even more next season to cement his spot in Corberan's XI.
Another and-coming West Brom youngster could well use Fellows' jump up to the first-team as a source of inspiration, therefore, with the talent in question a deadly finisher of chances playing out on loan in the EFL last campaign.
Modou Faal's numbers last season
Playing in the lower depths of the four divisions with both Doncaster Rovers and Walsall last time out, it could be an almighty leap for Academy prospect Modou Faal to make next season pushed into the deep end of the Championship, but one he could adjust to over time judging by his goalscoring numbers in League Two.
The promising 21-year-old would bag 15 strikes from 53 overall games for his two loan employers, to further live up to his billing as being a prolific attacker when playing youth football for West Brom, as was seen in his previous 14 goals from 33 appearances in the U21 set-up.
Fellows also benefitted from being loaned out to Crawley Town early in his development as a young starlet learning the ropes, whilst Albion also struck gold on Brandon Thomas-Asante, when signing him from League Two Salford City back in 2022, to then become Corberan's main man up top.
Yet, the 25-year-old's lack of potency in front of goal towards the back end of West Brom's promotion push last campaign would have really irked those at the Hawthorns, with the 5 foot 11 striker only registering a meagre two goals from his final 11 appearances, which included two anonymous showings in both play-off matches against Southampton.
This could result in Faal being given more chances to come, as a rival to Thomas-Asante's first-team spot, as Corberan aims to find his next breakout talent akin to Fellows.
How Faal compares to Thomas-Asante
Like Faal will be looking towards the aforementioned Fellows as a figure he will want to replicate, he will also look to Thomas-Asante, who had to rough out in League Two similarly, before being given a shot in the Championship.
Faal's 15 goals in all competitions last season playing for his two loan sides actually betters any goal return the ex-Salford man mustered up whilst still playing in Greater Manchester, which shows that the 21-year-old could be fast-tracked to the first-team shortly, to see if he can handle the step-up in quality already.
Faal
23/24
53
15
2
BTA
22/23
7
5
2
BTA
21/22
43
13
4
BTA
20/21
49
6
3
BTA
19/20
27
6
4
Looking at the table above, Thomas-Asante has never quite been a deadly finisher, even during his Salford education, whilst Faal could go on to explode into life in the senior team at West Brom, based on his encouraging output last season.
Described as a talent who could go on to be "unplayable" by Donny manager Grant McCann, Corberan will hope Faal can be another exciting prospect that can offer West Brom depth ahead of the new second-tier campaign.
With a lack of reserve strikers at the Spaniard's direct disposal, as Andreas Weimann is no longer on the books after a forgettable loan spell, an injection of youth could be even more well-needed.
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