Brandon Thomas-Asante could be asked to play out wide for West Brom when Daryl Dike returns from a long-term injury, according to Lewis Cox.
With Josh Maja emerging as the more likely starter at the lone striker position, the return of an out-and-out number nine in Dike could push Thomas-Asante to third-choice.
The Albion attacker has played out wide on occasion in his career, but has mostly featured as a centre-forward under Carlos Corberan as he has carried the load of his ailing teammates.
Discussing on the Baggies Broadcast podcast [5 December], Cox pondered the prospect of West Bromwich Albion adopting a two-striker formation in matches. He mentioned the potential combinations like pairing Dike with Maja or Thomas-Asante with Maja.
Cox anticipates Maja to have a significant role, especially if the team continues with a single forward approach. Once Dike returns from injury, Cox believes he will also be involved due to his strong performances last season.
He expressed the desire to alleviate the pressure on Thomas-Asante, who has often been the sole striking option for the team since his arrival. Cox emphasized the difficulty of carrying such responsibility consistently and highlighted the importance of sharing the load among multiple players.
“It will be interesting to see if we see him out wide as suggested.” You see it, don’t you? The only difference is that Albion has choices in those areas. Thomas-Asante, who plays out wide, is lower on the pecking order.”
An interesting option
The prospect of a fresh role could be just what Thomas-Asante requires, not only to revive his form, which has recently stopped, but also to ensure his place in the first squad at The Hawthorns.
Dike is likely to return to training around the end of December, but considering the severity of his injury, he could be out for months and limited to cameo appearances to gain fitness. It will be intriguing to watch how he performs whenever he returns to the team.
If he returns to the fold and demonstrates that he can still perform to the best of his ability after shaking off the inevitable rustiness that comes with this type of injury, he will undoubtedly push ahead of BTA in the pecking order.
The challenge Thomas-Asante then faces is that Albion have well-stacked talent in all forward positions who can be deemed superior than the forward, whether out wide or through the middle.
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