This West Brom youngster could be in line for a rare first-team appearance against Aldershot Town in the FA Cup this weekend.
West Brom host non-league Aldershot Town in the FA Cup Third Round this weekend.
The Baggies take a welcome break from Championship action after playing seven times in December, winning three games and now finding themselves in 5th after a New Year’s Day defeat at Swansea City.
Sunday’s opponents Aldershot Town play in the National League and currently sit in 8th place of the table, winning 3-2 away at strugglers Woking on New Year’s Day.
And the game on Sunday could see Baggies youngster Jovan Malcolm make a rare appearance.
Jovan Malcolm returns from uninspiring Cheltenham Town loan spell
Malcolm, 21, is a product of the West Brom academy, making his Championship debut last time round.
He made just one appearance in the second tier before heading out on loan for this season, joining League One outfit Cheltenham Town.
But in seven League One appearances, attacker Malcolm failed to score or register an assist, having been exiled from the side since November leading to his return to The Hawthorns.
Now, journalist Lewis Cox says that Malcolm is in line to potentially feature against Aldershot this weekend.
West Brom youngsters poised for rare chance on Sunday
As well as Malcolm, Carlos Corberan could deploy some other rarely-seen West Brom talents this weekend.
The Baggies have just been dealt a blow with Jeremy Sarmiento having been switch to Ipswich Town by Brighton, and with AFCON potentially set to take the likes of Grady Diangana and Brandon Thomas-Asante, Corberan’s attacking options look set to become seriously depleted.
So Malcolm could be given a chance to shine this weekend, with a view to potentially partaking in first-team plans over the coming weeks.
As well as him, we could see names like Reyes Cleary, Rayhaan Tulloch, and Caleb Taylor given a chance.
All three are on the peripheries of the first-team and Cleary and Tulloch especially could come into the thinking over the coming weeks with Corberan set to lose some more attacking players.
So we should see a new-look West Brom side this weekend and it’ll be interesting to see how these youngsters potentially fare against a strong National League side in Aldershot.
They’ll be no pushovers, and with finances remaining tight at West Brom, they’ll be keen to make progress in the cup, so the likes of Malcolm could be playing alongside some experienced players this weekend.
Kick off is at 2pm on Sunday.