West Brom sold “shining example” for just £2m

West Bromwich Albion will want to break free of their promotion nearly-men title come the end of the current Championship campaign.

The Hawthorns hierarchy certainly went in a bold, fresh direction this summer in attempting to reinvigorate proceedings in the West Midlands, with the appointment of Ryan Mason taking many by surprise, considering Tony Mowbray – who is a tried and tested figure in the EFL – was the Baggies’ previous manager before the 34-year-old took on the reins.

The West Brom novice has shone in spurts since taking on the daunting gig, with four wins already collected from nine second-tier clashes, but a 3-0 loss suffered away at Millwall just before the international break has shoved his inconsistent side down to seventh spot in the early league standings.

Thankfully, Mason does have a lot of quality at his disposal as he tries to pick his team back off the floor after the international break, with both Josh Maja and Isaac Price clear bright sparks in attack.

Maja and Price’s start the season

Despite being riddled with injuries most of 2025 to date, Maja is now up and running under Mason when he instinctively fired home this poacher’s effort against Norwich City at the start of the month.

With another 12 league strikes next to the ex-Sunderland centre-forward’s name at the Hawthorns already, it goes without saying really that if West Brom do want to finally break out of the EFL’s elite league, they will need their number nine to be – most importantly – fit, but also firing on all cylinders for the rest of the long campaign.

Price will also be keen to shine alongside the 26-year-old in attack, having already collected four goal contributions this season, with two whirlwind strikes from the number 21 against Wrexham towards the start of the season, clinching a big 3-1 win for the visitors to Wales.

He has since seen his goals and assists dry up, but Mason will believe he can get back to his best, with the Northern Ireland international perhaps picking up goal contributions aplenty again, partnered next to a lethal Maja.

Yet, despite the electric Baggies duo amassing four goals between them this season so far, there is one former West Brom attacker who is actually outscoring both the Nigerian striker and the ex-Everton man, who was allowed to exit the West Midlands giants last year for just £2.25m.

The “shining light” now outscoring Maja & Price

West Brom have had their fair share of promotion near misses in recent years, with the Baggies usually falling just short of what is required of them in the intense lottery of the playoffs.

With Carlos Corberan at the helm, West Brom finished in a respectable fifth position come the end of the gruelling 2023/24 campaign. Despite their best efforts, they would come unstuck in the semi-final stages to eventual playoff winners Southampton, with Brandon Thomas Asante left to rue his luck.

Come the end of that competitive season, Thomas Asante would stick out as West Brom’s top goalscorer, as seen in the left-footed menace bagging 11 goals from 39 outings.

However, there would have still been grumbles surrounding the Ghanaian’s wastefulness that same season, with a whopping 18 big chances also missed, on top of his goal conversion percentage only coming in at 15%.

Therefore, when West Brom were met with a £2.25m bid from Coventry last summer, the Baggies clearly felt they had got the maximum out of their former “shining example”, as he was once labelled by Steve Bruce during the early days of his 78-game stint at the Hawthorns.

They were very much wrong, though, with the “outstanding” Sky Blues marksman – as his new manager Frank Lampard has labelled him – already up to a jaw-dropping eight goal contributions from eight second-tier contests this season, with five of those being clinical goals that have helped bump his side’s overall goal count number in the division to a remarkable 27 strikes.

Clearly, Lampard is the manager Thomas Asante has been dreaming of working with, with the ex-Derby County boss playing him down the wings, too, to devastating effect, as opposed to the isolated figure he sometimes cut at West Brom when lining up regularly as a lone centre-forward presence.

The proof will soon be in the pudding as to whether the red-hot 26-year-old can keep up this sterling form across the full 46-game campaign, as Thomas Asante continues to battle against his former club in the promotion hunt, and both Maja and Price in the goal charts.