Like all other clubs in the EFL, West Brom will have to deal with missing players at various points of this season. These 46-game campaigns are gruelling and demanding, and challenge the fitness and well-being of those who seek to battle their way through it and come out the other side. Their next game is at nearby Birmingham City, this Friday night.
Away from absence due to health and fitness, there is the risk of suspension too. A red card will see you miss matches immediately, while accumulating yellow cards over a period of time also leads to a ban. Albion and Carlos Corberan will be looking to cope with the testing calendar ahead of them in 2023/24 and maintain as healthy a group as possible over the course of the coming months.
This is the state of play in the treatment room at the moment…
West Brom’s newfound partnership showed Wednesday what they were missing
Jeremy Sarmiento
Injury: Quadriceps injury. Sarmiento felt the effects from his first start v Millwall and was limited to a cameo against Preston, but the pain in his quad didn’t subside and scan results confirmed he’d need a period of recovery.
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What Corberan said: “The risk with Jeremy to play the game, whenever he is playing more minutes, always there is a risk because he’s a player who hasn’t had the habit to play games. It looked like he was recovering well, from the game against Millwall, and I had him in mind when we were preparing for Preston, but from the muscle perspective he arrived at Preston with half a full recovery.
“He had some pain in the quadriceps. From our medical department, they understood it was just normal from the fatigue of the game, after it being a long time without playing. That’s why I decide not to play with him in the first XI against Preston and I’d have him ready from the bench. He was playing some minutes and at the end of the game, he felt pain in the muscle, in the left quadricep.
“With this pain, he was receiving treatment on Sunday and when the doctors checked – when the pain was there and didn’t disappear, they made a scan – yesterday, it showed an injury. It is going to keep him apart from the group for four weeks. It’s difficult.”
Estimated return date: Sarmiento is out for four weeks, meaning that he could, at a push, be in the squad for the trip to Coventry on Monday 30 October – otherwise you’re looking at a return in November, either side of that international break.
Josh Maja
Injury: Ankle injury. Maja needed helping off the pitch at the end of the goalless draw at Bristol City and supporters spotted him leaving Ashton Gate in a protective boot. He’ll be out for eight weeks from the day of the game.
What Corberan said: “The key now, the focus, is to develop the players that we have. It’s true that we couldn’t bring the player who could play as a third striker, that’s why we need to play with players who, if Asante isn’t playing, can play as a striker.”
Estimated return date: Maja isn’t expected to be back until the other side of the November international break at the earliest.
Adam Reach
What Corberan said: “Always the long term injuries are emotionally difficult to manage, but it’s true – Reach has one level of maturity with which he is facing the situation. It’s a pity because in the way he came to pre-season, the effort he was putting in in the summer and the spirit he showed in the first games, it was a positive point.
“Imagine now – we have played the previous games with five, for me he is perfect to play with five. His best position, for me, is wing back. Imagine how important he could have been with this shape that we have done in the previous weeks. The players need to adapt and emotionally manage the situation. He is going to come back stronger, without any type of doubt.”
Estimated return date: Reach has undergone surgery and will be sidelined until December at the very earliest.
Daryl Dike
Injury: Achilles. Dike suffered the injury in the first half of Albion’s last win at Stoke City, and he will now be missing for a number of months after the third serious injury of his 15-month spell at Albion. He has since undergone successful surgery.
What Tony Strudwick said: “The plan was to get Daryl back around November, December time,” Strudwick added. “He’s progressing well, his operation went really well. He went to the States. He’s back in, his attitude and application has been fantastic.”
Corberan added: “It will be late December or early January when the process finishes with Dike. I prepared the squad without thinking of Dike, until January. This is our current squad, but we plan the squad to have two strikers.”
Estimated return date: It’s hard to know exactly when Dike will be back wearing an Albion shirt, but what is for sure is that it won’t be until December at the absolute earliest. With such injuries though, it could be that we’ve seen the last of Dike in 2023.
Martin Kelly
Injury: Kelly was sent on loan to Wigan for the rest of last season in January in order to play regularly again, and he turned in a man of the match performance on his debut in a goalless draw with Blackburn, but he suffered a serious knee injury towards the end of the game and required surgery and a spell on the sidelines.
What Carlos Corberan said: “Now he is making his recovery. Last Friday, for example, was the first day he was going to work with one of our technical members of staff, so we are helping him in this process of recovery. After this he’ll be one player more, knowing he is going to be eight months without playing football. It makes it more difficult, of course, for him to be ready to play.”
Estimated return date: Kelly was expected to return to first-team training in August but is still behind that schedule.
What’s Albion’s strongest XI when every player is fit? Let us know your thoughts here.
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