West Brom's Carlos Corberan name-checks Barcelona, Leeds and Southampton in Alex Mowatt explanation | OneFootball

West Bromwich Albion head coach Carlos Corberan has name-checked Barcelona, Leeds United, Manchester City and Southampton in his explanation of the role Baggies midfielder Alex Mowatt can play this term.

Mowatt found himself out of favour at The Hawthorns at the start of last term and was loaned out to Middlesbrough but could well have a part to play in 2023/24 given the Championship club are tight on cash.

West Brom 2023 summer signings

Albion just missed out on the Championship play-offs last term, with Corberan turning fortunes around after his appointment in October, and will hope to go one better in the upcoming campaign despite the financial constraints caused by ongoing issues with their ownership.

They're yet to make any signings this summer despite selling Dara O'Shea to Burnley and sending Karlan Grant to Cardiff City on loan.

Carlos Corberan on Alex Mowatt

With a quieter window than usual expected at The Hawthorns, returning loan duo Mowatt and Cedric Kipre could turn out to be useful players for Corberan this term.

That fact is not lost on the Spanish coach and it seems the former, an all-action central midfielder, is someone that he is expecting to be part of his plans.

Speaking to Birmingham Live

He said: "Southampton have some players in the Championship from last year.

"Tella for example. Smallbone at Stoke City. Leeds United had two players at Millwall and one at Rotherham. It's not normal for clubs who have competed in the Championship in the same season, though. For me, more than that they were playing in the Championship, is the profile of both players.

"Both are players with very good technical skills. If you want to be dominant with the ball, you need players with good technical skills. We have changed ideas, I have new behaviours to introduce - yes. You are in the summer and you are watching football...then poof, you have new ideas. The key idea is what the player can offer.

"It's not going to happen the same if you have Mowatt and Molumby in the same position - they give you different behaviours. They play the game in different ways. Molumby is totally different, one is dynamic the other is a more short number eight. If you put Molumby as a number six, you destroy some skills he has, his running and his arrival into the box and his possibility to score goals.

"Mowatt as a six - he has the ability to play in the building up of the action. One player changes what your team is doing. I can give you thousands of examples in football - Barcelona isn't the same with Busquets and without Busquets. Or Rodri at Manchester City."

Does Alex Mowatt have a future at West Brom?

It seems as though the 28-year-old is set to get another chance at West Brom under Corberan.

He's entered the final 12 months of his Baggies contract and was loaned out last term so it would not have been a huge surprise if the club had looked to sell him this summer but their lack of movement in the transfer market appears to have handed him another chance.

Mowatt is deserving of that and has proven himself a quality player at Championship level in the past. Corberan appreciates that and clearly recognises that he can offer something a little different in the centre of the park.