"The biggest difference" West Brom youth boss Richard Beale on youngsters' progress
Albion under-21s boss Richard Beale has urged the club’s young players to strive for more after breaking into Carlos Corberan’s first-team thoughts this term.
Beale’s junior Baggies were seen off 3-0 by Manchester United at The Hawthorns in Premier League 2 action on Monday night and have three fixtures remaining in their league campaign.
Decisions are currently being made on whether professional contracts are offered to youngsters coming to an end of their two-year scholarship. It is understood a couple of youngsters have already been offered and agreed terms, with more talks to come.
Winger Tom Fellows, 20, has been the star emergence from the club’s academy this term and has become a key part of Corberan’s senior options. Other youngsters have sampled senior experience for the first time, including Fenton Herd, Layton Love, Akeel Higgins, Josh Shaw and Harry Whitwell. Others, Jovan Malcolm, Zac Ashworth, Ethan Ingram, Jamie Andrews, Caleb Taylor and Mo Faal have been out on important loans to EFL clubs.
“It was fantastic for those lads to be in and around it but they’ve got to want more and I know they want more,” Beale said. “They have to keep striving, fighting and scrapping because having a fleeting appearance in the FA Cup – there’s thousands of those players. There’s not many that go on to have the career with 100 or 200 appearances in the first team.
