2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Joseph Chapman)
Many might've expected Karlan Grant to leave West Brom again this summer. Few would certainly have pencilled in the role he currently holds in this side, which proudly sits atop the Championship after five matches. Grant was sent out to Cardiff City last year, in a loan spell which wasn't laden with goals but did its job for player and club - Grant played 39 games last year, and 26 of them were for the full 90 minutes.
Where Cedric Kipre and Alex Mowatt had been sent out on loan but welcomed back by Carlos Corberan, who hadn't made the initial decision, last year, Grant leaving the Baggies was by the Spaniard's hand. There are two years remaining on his six-year contract. All parties concerned were at a bit of a crossroads.
Where do we go from here? Grant , to his credit, returned with vigour in pre-season. It was made clear to Corberan that he intended to knuckle down and force his way back into his manager's thoughts and selection process. Matt Phillips had left, as had Adam Reach, while Mikey Johnston was yet to return in the summer.
Grant had an opportunity in the club's friendly campaign to demonstrate those intentions. READ: West Brom injury update as Carlos Corberan sweats on familiar concern READ: Swift reveals his Celtic link, Johnston texts and West Brom's new role unearthed It was an unforeseen development that, on the eve of the season, Grant would have such a role to play and yet, it could be argued, that he is simply putting to good use the benefit of that time away, which certainly rewarded Kipre - ironically also at Cardiff - and Mowatt. For Corberan, who watched closely in pre-season, it's proof you never know what to expect.
"The players put themselves in one place or another," Corberan explained. "Sometimes we expect one thing - that's why I don't believe in expectations - and then what happens is another. Many situations like that have happened.
I remember in my mind a year ago I was thinking I'd play Semi Ajayi and Erik Pieters as centre backs, for different reasons - the next year I was playing Kyle Bartley and Cedric Kipre. This is football, things can change quickly. "What you need to do is open your eyes, watch how the players are progressing and give to them what they deserve.
Grant...
when we started pre-season here, we didn't have a lot of left wingers. Mentally he wanted to stay here, he came to me in pre-season with the mentality showing that he wanted to make things for West Bromwich. He didn't want time to just pass before he left the club.
"He wanted to be important. You start to see this, in the way he trains, the way he takes care of himself. After, the fact that we lost two important players in that position and we moved late in the market to cover, in this time he was using very well his opportunity.
He has shown in the pitch what he has desired in his mind. Some have the desire but can't move it to the pitch." Albion clearly weren't done in the transfer window by the time that the new season had begun and Grant, as he had in the final pre-season friendly against Birmingham City the week previous, lined up in the starting XI at Queens Park Rangers on the opening day of the season.
In that nutshell, he displayed traits supporters wanted to see and cut a rejuvenated figure. Indeed he was unfortunate not to open his account that day. As the weeks of August wore on, Grant witnessed new arrivals emerge.
The versatile Callum Styles, who might be compared to the outgoing Reach by way of his versatility, can certainly operate on the left. Then, just before the closure of the window, Albion made the breakthrough with Celtic and Johnston returned after an excellent loan spell which prompted Corberan to identify him as his recruitment priority. Johnston is through the door, a genuine rival to Grant on the left, but he turned in another very decent showing at Fratton Park last weekend and can consider himself in pole position again to start when Plymouth visit The Hawthorns this Saturday.
Make no mistake, Grant is in this new look Albion line up purely on merit. "Every player will be affected by this," Corberan reasoned of Johnston's return. "When you know you have good players in this position, you know you need to play at your good level.
I don't think Grant is affected positively or negatively by Johnston, I think it's about his desire. The best players in the world don't need another one to be at their best. Rafa Nadal doesn't have competition with anyone other than himself, and a desire to be the best.
"If you need someone to push you, if you need a coach to push you, if you need a teammate to push you, it means you're not strong enough to make an impact in football. Everything arrives from ourselves." Grant rather propped an average Albion side up with his 18 goals in 2021-22 as they finished halfway down the table under Valerien Ismael and Steve Bruce.
He began the following the campaign well with goals against Watford, Hull and Wigan, as well as against Sheffield United in the cup, but his only goal thereafter - following Corberan's appointment - was against non-league Chesterfield in the FA Cup . Grant, certainly in the soldered in system implemented by Ismael, took advantage of his role in the 3-4-3, on the left of the front three in which he proved to be a demon from the edge of the penalty area. Opposing teams learned quickly not to afford Grant time on the ball.
Coupled with his penalty responsibilities, Grant racked up a decent tally in a difficult campaign. He has opened his account this year, with a powered header at Stoke City to convert Tom Fellows' cross which possessed all of the desire Corberan has alluded to. Still, it's a different system and way of playing to the last time Grant was routinely in the Albion side.
Now in more of a conventional winger role, will those opportunities continue to present themselves? "The game of QPR he had a very good opportunity and the keeper made a very good save," Corberan listed. "He scored against Stoke City. He had a big chance against Leeds, he made a header against Portsmouth.
Always, he has moments which show he's there. He had a chance the other day when he didn't kick the ball well - but he's always there. His natural instinct is that he can do these things.
"It's positive to have a player who can score goals. Normally it's the striker who scores goals, but there are other positions which can help you. Mowey the other day scored two goals.
Other players can score goals because they take the responsibility and they have the skills to do it." What have you made of Grant's return to Albion? Tell us HERE.
