When Jeremy Sarmiento returns to play for the Baggies, Carlos Corberan has explained how he will oversee his fitness.
The 21-year-old was one of three players brought in by Corberan this summer to The Hawthorns on loan from Brighton. After a number of impressive cameo appearances off the bench, he eventually started for the Baggies against Millwall in September.
Sarmiento, meanwhile, has only played once since the Lions’ draw, coming off the bench as Albion defeated Preston. Prior to the break, Sarmiento sustained an ankle injury.
The Ecuadorian has a history of injury problems, and Corberan understands that in order to keep the 21-year-old’s fitness up, he will need to control his comeback.
As quoted by the Express & Star (13 October) he said: “It’s true every injury has been different, two years ago he had a massive hamstring injury that moved him four months out of the team. Last year he broke his metatarsal in the foot, he was missing for four or five months.
“When I bring him to the club I knew he was a player we need to control what we do with him. The positive thing was he was adapting very well to the training demands because if you don’t train the player he’s not ready to compete and cannot perform.
“If you are training a lot with the player – then he cannot compete neither. So we were managing with a lot of detail every single thing with him. I knew after Millwall the risk to have what’s happened right now would be there.”
Fit and ready
There is no doubt that Sarmiento is a player with plenty of talent, but West Brom fans may just have to temper their expectations of what they anticipate from the 21-year-old given his recent injury history as he doesn’t seem ready to feature week in and week out at Championship level.
For a player to have had so many different injuries at a young age is a worry, but it is clear that Corberan has recognised that potential issue and still believes that the Ecuadorian is a worthwhile addition to his squad and believes he is improving.
While it is never good to lose a player to injury, the Baggies boss has planned for this exact eventuality and is fortunate to have depth in the wide areas of the pitch, with the likes of Grady Diangana back to full fitness as well as youngsters like Tom Fellows.
Hopefully, given the two-week break courtesy of the international break, it won’t be too long until Sarmiento is back involved in first-team proceedings at The Hawthorns and Corberan can finally get the best out of the 21-year-old following short glimpses of his talent so far.
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