West Bromwich Albion have been in the Championship for many years on the spin now, worrying that their time to return to the promised land of the Premier League simply keeps passing them by.
This campaign could be different, but the wheels have started to come off Carlos Corberan‘s well-oiled machine in recent weeks, to start the groans and moans around the Hawthorns that another promotion near miss is on the horizon.
Winless in their last eight matches in the second tier, something needs to change fast for the Baggies to break out of this sorry stretch of form, with Alex Mowatt arguably one player that needs to step up his performance levels.
Mowatt’s form this season
The former Leeds United midfielder hasn’t been at his most creative for his out-of-form side across their recent patch of poor games, with no goal contributions coming his way across West Brom’s last seven league clashes.
Before that, the exciting 29-year-old had managed to notch up an impressive three goals in the league, as his side raced out of the blocks to be near the top of the Championship summit, which saw him score a sumptuous brace away at Portsmouth in September.
In total for the Baggies, across his four seasons at the club now, Mowatt has amassed nine goals and seven assists across 97 appearances, as he no doubt dreams about playing a major role in steering his side back up to the big time come the end of the unpredictable campaign.
West Brom did drop the ball with another former midfield talent, away from the ex-Leeds man coming good at the Hawthorns, with the one-time Baggies academy prodigy even outperforming the 29-year-old this season in the second tier.
The player currently outperforming Mowatt
The player in question here is Finn Azaz, who was briefly on the books of the West Midlands outfit as a youngster, before moving onto Aston Villa still as a wide-eyed starlet.
This is a well-travelled path for many academy products that do end up departing the Hawthorns during the infancy of their careers, with Morgan Rogers, Louie Barry and many more upping and leaving for the allure of the Villans after being discovered at West Brom.
Azaz’s league numbers for Middlesbrough (24/25) | |
|---|---|
Stat – per 90 mins* | Azaz |
Games played | 15 |
Goals scored | 3 |
Assists | 5 |
Big chances missed | 3 |
Big chances created | 4 |
Shots* | 2.7 |
Touches* | 48.8 |
Accurate passes* | 24.1 (78%) |
Stats by Sofascore | |
The then West Brom boss Valerien Ismael would allow Azaz to move onto Villa for free in 2021, and although he would never go on to make a professional appearance at Villa Park after this switch took place, it’s still a situation the Baggies must rue when you consider Azaz’s numbers for Middlesbrough this season in the Championship.
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The 24-year-old has been a much-needed creative spark for Michael Carrick’s Boro this campaign to date, with three goals and five assists tallied up from 14 second-tier clashes, which included Azaz putting it on a plate for Tommy Conway to fire home away at Queens Park Rangers last time out.
Consequently, he is outperforming Mowatt, who has five fewer goals and assists than Azaz.
Carrick’s men will continue to rely on the incisive nature of their number 20 as the season drags on, with Boro potentially pipping the Baggies to a promotion spot down the line, if Azaz can keep this top form going across the full 46-game schedule.
Now worth £4.1m, according to Transfermarkt, West Brom must heavily regret not attempting to put up more of a fight to keep the Boro number 20 at the club when they could, with the 24-year-old going on to back up comments made by Villa academy manager Mark Harrison back in 2021 that he is a “clever” player on the ball.
Corberan will just pray he has enough at his disposal – away from Azaz shining for Boro – to ensure another playoff spot is reached at a minimum.
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