Ryan Mason is now experiencing his first sticky patch of form in the West Bromwich Albion hot seat.
Indeed, after a fast-paced start from the Baggies saw Mason’s new side collect three league wins from a possible four, they have now tasted the bitterness of defeat two games on the spin to fall out of the very early Championship playoff race.
The stars Mason knew he could rely on in the opening few games have suddenly gone quiet, with Isaac Price one notable underperformer across West Brom’s last two games that had shone extremely bright during that patch of promising wins.
Still, the Northern Ireland international has shown more than enough already to appear ready for a promotion run-in, with the former Everton youth product already a favourite among the Hawthorns masses.
How Price compares to past West Brom stars
West Brom were in dire need of a fresh and exciting talent to take over from Tom Fellows after it was announced that the homegrown star was moving to Southampton in the summer.
While Price is nowhere near Fellows’ best just yet, with the rapid 22-year-old collecting a mammoth 14 assists last season, it’s clear that the “outstanding” number 21 – as he has been labelled by scout Jacek Kulig – is cut out for the challenges of the Championship, with a stunning five goal contributions already next to his name this season in all competitions.
Price’s ability to conjure up a moment of magic from nothing could soon see him reach the unbelievable heights of Mateus Pereira, too, if he keeps plugging along, with the beloved Brazilian once collecting an absurd 28 goal contributions at the Hawthorns to seal a passage up to the Premier League.
Of course, at just 21 years of age, the ex-Toffees starlet isn’t the finished product just yet. But, with his heroics for his nation also sticking out, it’s not the wildest shout that Price could soon make waves in the top-flight as well, much like ex-Baggies winger Grady Diangana was capable of before his time in the West Midlands fizzled out.
Arguably, the promotion-chasers once had an asset on their books who was even more talented than Price, but he would – unfortunately – never live up to his immense hype.
The West Brom star who never lived up to his hype
West Brom aren’t strangers when it comes to going after hotly-tipped starlets who have had a previous much-talked-about education.
Of course, in the here and now, Price benefited from an early education at Everton, with Oliver Burke also arriving at the Baggies in 2017, having shone briefly at boyhood club Nottingham Forest.
More impressively than Price on Merseyside, however – who never went on to enter the senior fray for the Toffees – Burke would go on to collect six goals and three assists in the men’s set-up at the City Ground, leading to Tony Pulis declaring that the Scotsman had “enormous” potential to be a top-flight success when arriving at the Premier League outfit in 2017.
In reality, in much the opposing fashion to Price, the 6-foot-2 forward would struggle to live up to his lavish praise, with just a weak one goal and three assists falling into his lap in the West Midlands. Amazingly, his 21-year-old counterpart has already bettered that meagre amount.
Games played
192
Clubs
7
Goals scored
22
Assists
13
Value at West Brom
£15m
Value now
£2m
Since his misstep at the Baggies, which cost the then top-flight club a whopping £15m, the well-travelled attacker has at least managed to repair his playing days, with a recent hat-trick in the Bundesliga for current employers Union Berlin placing his name back in plenty of headlines.
However, having never quite lived up to his potential, Burke’s valuation has now fallen all the way to a meagre £2m, as per Football Transfers.
This will be a cautionary tale for Price to consider, with a big hope on West Brom’s end that the 21-year-old can only get better, even with the daunting Premier League potentially coming his way.