West Brom manager Valerien Ismael has been ‘hugely impressed’ with young duo Taylor Gardner-Hickman and Ethan Ingram since taking over at The Hawthorns, reports Express and Star’s Joseph Masi.
The young pair are both right-backs and Masi says both will ‘deputise’ for Furlong ‘until at least January’ – meaning that both will play back up to Furlong for the first half of the season.
Furlong, 25, has been a mainstay in the Baggies’ starting XI since joining from QPR back in 2019 having racked up 71 league appearances so far for the club, including 35 in the Premier League last season.
He’s had his injury problems in the past but has so far played every minute of West Brom’s Championship campaign, though suspension could soon be an issue after having picked up two yellow cards already this season.
But Express and Star has dissected the Baggies’ squad and revealed that Ismael – who has enjoyed a fine start to life in The Hawthorns dugout – is a keen admirer of both Gardner-Hickman and Ingram who are both products of the West Brom youth academy.
Only Ingram though has made his first-team debut for the club – he played all 90 minutes of the 6-0 defeat v Arsenal in the Carabao Cup last month, and has made the bench on one occasion in the Championship this season.
Baggies’ youngsters
West Brom have produced some decent young players in recent seasons but this summer has seen a number of them depart – both Finn Azaz and Tim Iroegbunam went to Aston Villa and so Ismael hailing the likes of Gardner-Hickman and Ingram may be his way of telling them they have a future at West Brom, and that they won’t be forgotten about in hope of not losing them to a Premier League side.
Hopefully we can see them in action at some point this season but for now, Furlong has that right-back position on lockdown.
