Express & Star

West Brom youngster Tom Fellows earns his chance to impress

Carlos Corberan admits exciting youngster Tom Fellows has earned his place in Albion’s reckoning ahead of the new Championship season.

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Albion youngster Tom Fellows (Getty)

Winger Fellows, who only turned 20 at the end of last month, has enjoyed a number of stand-out displays across pre-season for the Baggies.

Head coach Corberan has been impressed with what he has seen and Fellows, who spent last season on loan in League Two with Crawley Town, has caught the eye of fans.

Albion open up their Championship campaign at Blackburn tomorrow and the tricky and direct winger has a lot to offer Albion, believes Corberan, though the head coach did also sound a note of warning on allowing the youngster time.

“I still think we didn’t see everything that he has because he has a lot of skills and doesn’t always use everything he has,” said Corberan.

“But now he is breaking this step, to start to believe in himself and to start to show the things on the pitch.

“He is one player we need to be calm and give him time because he needs time to show what he has. He’s a very quick player and can manage the right and left foot and he can beat players with the one-v-one – maybe with this description you think I am talking about the best player in the world!

“But he is a player with a lot of positive things that he needs his time to develop, we have the confidence in him he can be involved in the team because he has deserved, for me, this opportunity.”

Fellows has grown through the schoolboy ranks with Albion having joined the club at under-10s level. Corberan has said recently that, especially given the difficult financial state at the moment, the academy must be the lifeblood of the club.

The winger is no complete stranger to Albion first-team affairs. He played six times under Valerien Ismael in 2021/22, including a full Championship debut in a 1-1 home draw with Cardiff on January 2 2022.