West Brom will hope for Mikey Johnston effect after Aston Villa agreement: View | OneFootball

The Baggies need someone to fill the void left by the Celtic man

In what is their first transfer window since Shilen Patel became owner of the club, it has been a reasonably busy summer for West Brom.

So far, seven new players have been added to Carlos Corberan's first-team squad at The Hawthorns.

Those connected with the Baggies will hope that the signings they have made, and others that may yet be to come, can push them past their run to the Championship play-off semi-finals last season.

However, one player who West Brom fans may have wanted to see make a move to the club this summer, who is seemingly yet to come close to completing such a deal, is Mikey Johnston.

Celtic man enjoyed excellent Baggies loan last season

Back in the 2024 January transfer window, Johnston completed a move to The Hawthorns on loan from Celtic until the end of the 2023/24 campaign.

Having made that move, the winger became a key player for Corberan's side, in helping them to secure their place in the top six in the final standings.

In total, he scored seven goals - a number of them spectacular - in 20 appearances in all competitions for West Brom.

His influence was certainly significant in the club's strong end to the campaign, and he not surprisingly became a popular player around the club in the process.

As a result, a return to the club for Johnston this summer would have undoubtedly gone down well around The Hawthorns and there has been talk that in an ideal world, they would have loved to have re-signed them if the finances worked.

But with that so far yet to happen, it seems as though West Brom will have to look to one player they have signed this summer, to fill that void.

Lewis Dobbin needs to do Mikey Johnston's job for West Brom

One of the deals that the Baggies have completed this summer, is the loan signing of Lewis Dobbin from Aston Villa.

The 21-year-old has moved to The Hawthorns on a temporary deal until the end of the season, just a few weeks after he had joined Villa on a permanent deal from fellow Premier League side Everton.

As a winger who, like Johnston, often operates on the left, there will be an expectation on Dobbin to do the job that the Celtic loanee did for the Baggies in the second-half of last season.

Of course, the Villa man is yet to get into full flow in his senior career. He scored five times and provided six assists in 54 games during a loan spell with Derby County in the 2022/23 season.

Meanwhile, the winger found the net just the once in 20 senior outings during his time with Everton before joining Villa, and then West Brom this summer.

However, it is worth noting that Johnston himself has struggled to get going with Celtic, while a loan spell in Portugal with Vitoria Guimaraes also yielded just three goals in 31 outings.

That though, did not stop him making a major impact during his time with the Baggies, so they will hope that a spell under the same manager, with a similar squad can bring the best from Dobbin too.

Indeed, the winger does have top-flight pedigree from his time with Everton that he may be able to draw during his spell in the Championship.

Meanwhile, having made this loan move immediately after securing a permanent deal, the 21-year-old will surely be desperate to prove a point to those watching on at Villa Park.

Doing so by impressing for West Brom, would of course put him in a stronger position to challenge for a place in the first-team when he returns to his parent club next summer.

As a result, there are reasons for those at The Hawthorns to be confident that Dobbin can play a big part for the club over the course of the rest of the campaign.

He came off the bench late in the opening weekend victory against QPR and wasn't able to make much of an impact but more opportunities for him to really make a splash will come.

If he can do that, then given the role he would be filling, there is a chance that West Brom fans would not be worrying for much longer, about the fact that Johnston himself has not returned to the club.