Sam Field interview: The young West Brom midfielder determined to stay normal

The 19-year-old admits it’s a form of escapism, a way to take his mind off football when he’s at home with his parents in Hagley.

“I’m dead basic at the minute,” he laughs. “I can play Silent Night? I think that’s about it. I’m just starting. But it’s good to take your head away from football. It’s a dead stressful sport at times.”

Mature beyond his years, Field is acutely aware of the pitfalls out there for young players in the modern game and he’s determined to do his best to stay as ‘normal Sam’.

But it’s been a hectic few days for the teenager. Last week he signed a 12-month extension on his Albion contract, keeping him at the club he’s supported all his life until 2021.

This week he was called up to the England under-21 squad for the first time, promoted from the under-20s when Everton’s Tom Davies fell injured.

He flew out to Ukraine this morning ahead of tomorrow's European qualifier. But Field has no desire to cultivate a jet-set lifestyle, he knows the importance of keeping his feet on the ground.

When Gareth Barry marked his record-breaking Premier League appearance he said it was much harder now for players like Field to make it due to all the attention they get.

But even though he has broken into the Albion first team on a few occasions and made 11 appearances in the Premier League, he’s not getting stopped in the street just yet.

“I don’t get that problem to be honest!” said Field, with more than a hint of relief. “It’s part and parcel of the job now, that media scrutiny.

“For a young lad it can come quite quick if you’re not careful. You’ve just got to keep your feet on the floor and concentrate on your football.”

Field has come a long way since he was a ball-boy at The Hawthorns, watching wide-eyed as idols like Zoltan Gera sprinted past him.

Now he’s the one signing autographs after games, the one all young footballers in the academy look up to for inspiration.

“I made sure I could be a ball boy so I could watch the game up close, which I always loved doing,” he said. “It was something I looked forward to every week.

“I remember being a ball-boy at the 5-5 (with Manchester United). We had to be taken in with two minutes to go because fans were going mad at both ends of the pitch.

“That was probably the most enjoyable game I’ve ever watched at The Hawthorns.”

There’s been quite a few. Field is from an Albion-mad family and his dad Trev still sits in Woodman Corner with the rest of the clan.

“They always come, they love coming,” said Field. “They’ve still got a fan approach, but that’s brilliant.

“We were in the Millennium Corner when we were younger, the academy got tickets so we just used to sneak in there illegally. Obviously we’d sit absolutely anywhere to come and watch.”

Not that any of his family treat him any differently now he’s crossed the advertising hoardings onto the pitch.

“I’ve got an older brother but I don’t think he’d want my name on the back of his shirt,” he laughed. “They’re all happy for me and delighted, but they just see me as normal Sam I guess, not as a footballer.”

Field first joined the academy when was seven years old and was nearly let go at the age of eight for being too small.

Thankfully, a new coach had the foresight to keep him on after a change in academy staff and Field was allowed to play down an age group to aid his development.

Now he stands over 6ft tall and seems, to this reporter at least, to still be growing.

“I could be!” he laughs. “I’m in the gym a lot, doing a lot of extra work, so I’m getting bigger. Getting taller might help actually, we’re a pretty tall team.”

One of the more curious statistics from this season is that Albion haven’t won a league game that Field hasn’t started.

He was in the starting XI for the opening two victories against Bournemouth and Burnley but was then dropped in favour of Paris Saint-Germain loanee Grzegorz Krychowiak, who arrived on the penultimate day of the transfer window.

Tony Pulis had understandably refused to allow Field to go out on loan before that because he was needed in the first team.

That changed when Krychowiak arrived, but despite some deadline day talks with a few clubs, the Baggies couldn’t find a suitable destination for him and it was decided he should stay.

Uncertainty comes with the territory of being a footballer. While friends of his age were heading off to universities they had picked out themselves, Field had no idea which part of the country he might end up in.

“It was getting to the last minute in September,” he said. “It is difficult to get your head around, obviously nothing came of it in the end.

“But it is something you have to be very aware of, your phone has to be on. You can go absolutely anywhere. You have to be on red alert.

“It’s part and parcel of football now, players move clubs all the time, it’s something you’ve got to get used to.

“I’ve seen Kane (Wilson) go to Exeter last minute, he’s still only 17, that’s a big ask for a 17-year-old lad. We’ll see in January what happens (to me). ”

Unless there are a series of outgoings in the New Year, it’s highly likely Field will be loaned out to the Championship.

“I always trust the club and they always have my best interests at heart,” said Field. “It’s very difficult to get into the team at the minute and rightly so because the standard is very good of the players.

“If I can get in then I know I’ve done very well. Starting two games this season, although it was before Greg came, is brilliant. Hopefully I can stake my place to get another chance.”

It's amazing that such a calm professionalism emanates out of someone so young. Field has the perfect blend between a determination to succeed and the patience needed for a long career in the game.

To many observers, he is living the dream. He’s in the first-team squad of the club he’s supported all his life, and is now under contract for the next four years.

But it is getting on to two years since he started training with the first team and that regularity has taken the edge off the excitement.

He is no longer the young ball-boy idolising Chris Brunt and James Morrison, he is a colleague, an equal.

“It’s a bit different now when I see them here (at the training ground),” said Field. “I haven’t got my fans’ head on anymore. You begin to get to know them as people, which is good.

“I still want the best for the club. If we lose it still hurts just like it did before I was playing.

“But there’s more of a serious head on it now because I’ve got to see it as work and I want to get into that team. It is a little bit different.

“My friends are always asking about football. I’m almost not interested in it. I do it here (at the training ground), I concentrate here, then I go home and I’m just normal Sam.

“I like to think I’m pretty mellow, I don’t get too high, don’t get too low. I just go day by day, trying to improve.”

But the fan inside hasn't completely disappeared. He’s still more invested in the club and more loyal to it than others might be. And his new contract meant a lot to him.

“I’ve always played here and always wanted to play here,” he said. “My aim is to start playing regularly here. I don’t know when it will be, hopefully it will be as soon as possible.

“If not this season then next season or the season after. I’m fighting for a regular place in the team sheet because that’s where I want to be.”