West Brom must regret seeing “class” academy ace leave

West Bromwich Albion will use this international break as time to regroup and refocus, after only picking up one win from nine in all competitions recently.

That rare victory did come about last match away at Hull City in the Championship, as a quickfire double from Karlan Grant and Josh Maja sealed a 2-1 win for Carlos Corberan’s visitors.

Whilst Maja and Grant obviously impressed, academy product Tom Fellows failed to ever get going against Tim Walter’s men, leading to an early second half subsitution that saw Lewis Dobbin replace the out-of-sorts winger.

Still, with five assists next to his name this season in league action, the Baggies won’t want to lose their homegrown gem anytime soon – with Everton previously interested – knowing all too well what it feels like when a former prodigy goes on to reach dizzy new heights away from the Hawthorns.

Morgan Rogers is one of the most notable examples…

What Morgan Rogers has done since leaving

Rogers briefly called West Brom his home as a promising prodigy, before going on to star for near neighbours Aston Villa.

West Brom were ultimately powerless to losing Rogers when he did exit in 2019 – as the allure of Manchester City proved to be understandably strong – with the 22-year-old now a top performer for Villa many years down the line.

Off the back of helping himself to an impressive three goals and three assists this season in all competitions for Unai Emery’s outfit, Rogers has even won himself a senior England call-up, as the young attacking midfielder continues to go from strength to strength at Villa Park.

West Brom will curse even more now that Man City swooped in and stole Rogers before he could come good at the Hawthorns, with this unbelievably not the only time a one-time Baggies academy player has gone on to make a name for himself in the senior game after waving goodbye to the club.

Tim Iroegbunam’s career since leaving West Brom

Tim Iroegbunam’s departure from the Championship club would have hurt equally as much as Rogers upping and leaving, with the central midfielder on the books of his boyhood employers for a substantial amount of time, having joined the academy structure after playing locally in Sutton Coldfield.

Like Rogers, however, Iroegbunam would fail to make a senior appearance at West Brom, leading to the 6-foot ace seeking out pastures new, with Villa once more laughing in the face of their near neighbours when snapping up the 21-year-old in 2022.

Looking at the table above, the Birmingham-born midfielder did make somewhat of an impression on the Villa masses after this move, with Iroegbunam making 19 first-team appearances for the Villans during his time there.

He would truly come into his own in the men’s game when on loan away from the Premier League club, with a spell at Queens Park Rangers seeing him bag two goals in the Championship, leading to the Hoops boss at the time Gareth Ainsworth heralding the youngster as “top class.”

Everton clearly saw lots of potential in the 21-year-old’s performances, forking out £9m to win his services this summer, with Iroegbunam exciting in flashes at Goodison Park today.

Still worth £8m according to Transfermarkt, with the ex-Baggies prodigy helping himself to one assist from eight Toffees clashes, West Brom must wonder now if they could have done anything differently in attempting to keep the midfielder around for longer.

He could be of use to Corberan right now, considering the Baggies squad is somewhat threadbare and Iroegbunam showed he can handle the fast-paced division at QPR, but West Brom are just left with what could have been much like Rogers.