Stockport County, Aston Villa success will frustrate West Brom: View | OneFootball

West Bromwich Albion have always been a club with a good youth academy, willing to give young players a chance.

In recent seasons they have had players such as Dara O’Shea and Taylor Gardner-Hickman who have played for the first team and gone on to establish themselves at Championship level and beyond in O'Shea's case.

Tom Fellows has been their main player who has had a breakout season this campaign, with the 19-year-old so far playing 30 times in the Championship, contributing to seven goals.

However, there are some young players who have left the club before being able to be given a proper chance at The Hawthorns.

When these players then go on to do well at other clubs - including some of their biggest rivals - it will be of massive frustration to the Baggies.

An example of this is the current success that Louie Barry and Rico Richards are now having whilst on loan at Stockport County, from West Brom’s rivals, Aston Villa.

Louie Barry and Rico Richards both highly-rated at West Brom

Both Barry and Richards had joined West Brom at a very young age, with Barry joining at the age of six, and Richards at the age of seven.

Barry would be at West Brom after joining from a local team in Sutton Coldfield, where he also played alongside another Aston Villa player in midfielder Tim Iroegbunam.

The striker would impress not only for West Brom but for England’s U16s, winning the Golden Boot at the Val-de-Marne, scoring three goals.

This led to his departure from West Brom, joining Barcelona in the summer of 2019 - becoming the first English player to join the infamous ‘La Masia’ academy.

He struggled to adapt to moving to the Spanish giants at such a young age, which then led to his move to Villa in January 2020, for a fee of £800,000, rising to £3.5 million.

Richards, on the other hand, did not quite have the glitz and glam of a move to Barcelona like Barry, but that does not take away from his abilities as a younger at West Brom.

After signing his first professional deal in 2020, Richards would unfortunately only make two appearances for West Brom, with his last being in March 2023 in the Championship, coming on as a substitute.

The attacking midfielder would move to Villa in the summer of 2023, leaving West Brom at the end of his contract, after he rejected a new deal. The reasons remain unknown.

Now both at Villa, they have spent this season on loan at Stockport in League Two, with Barry there for the entire season, whilst Richard joined in January.

Both have each done well in their own right. Barry suffered an injury in October which kept him out until early April, but he started the season well, winning the League Two Player and Young Player of the Month in September after scoring five goals and assisting a further two.

Richards, meanwhile, has been used as more of an impact sub for his pace out wide, but overall both Richards’ and Barry’s contributions have led to Stockport winning promotion and the League Two title.

But for West Brom, this has to be frustrating to watch. Both players were extremely talented players whilst at the club, but they failed to give them what they wanted and now ultimately may pay the price.

West Brom need to make sure this does not continue to be a trend. When it comes to Fellows, they now have a young talent who is contributing to the team and could be a future star for them. They need to learn from letting players go like Barry and Richards that keeping Fellows and others like him has to be a priority, as the Baggies can clearly can produce some great talents.