Carlos Corberan delivers West Brom promise as six first-team regulars set for exits

Albion have half-a-dozen regular starters well into the last year of their contracts, but there’s no panic in the boardroom as new owner Shilen Patel is working closely with manager Carlos Corberan to assess every individual’s situation.

Kyle Bartley, Semi Ajayi, Darnell Furlong, Jayson Molumby, John Swift and Grady Diangana all see their West Brom deals expire in June 2025. The loan deals for Uros Racic, Mason Holgate and Lewis Dobbin reach their conclusion a month earlier, meaning Albion could potentially lose nine players ahead of the start of the 2025/26 season.

Of course, a lot can change in the next eight or nine months, not least the division the club calls home. West Brom could well seal promotion to the Premier League and that would change the outlook entirely. If they remain in the Championship, then the existing approach could shift to ensure the wait for top-flight action doesn’t extend.

With the view to become an established Premier League outfit in the near future, Patel and Corberan are being very open and collaborative with one another about the overall philosophy at the football club. Included in that is the immediate decisions awaiting the six players mentioned - and talks are already underway over the best courses of action.

"One of the considerations the club is doing is this, to start to work on not only the short-term, but the medium to long-term. This is a big change to the past – something the club is doing,” Corberan told our sister publication, Express & Star.

"Some players want security, some players want risk, some players want to change, some want to stay. Some players hate to be in the last year of their contract and want to avoid this. Some players say they are in their last year so they want to be open to possibilities – everyone is different.

"Shilen, from the first day, wanted to manage the club in the same way he manages another business. He believes in the people he put in the club and the people he put in need to talk, to arrive to conclusions, that's the way. In the end there are people who make the last decision.

"But from the people we had here before, now with Andrew and Shilen, with his project to not just be thinking year-by-year, half-season to half-season, it is thinking about creating something special in the club, is to make these decisions in the right moment,” Corberan explained.