West Bromwich Albion had a serious overhaul this summer as a new dawn under Ryan Mason beckoned.
Indeed, various first-team regulars from their promotion near-miss all left the Hawthorns behind, whether that be John Swift and Grady Diangana exiting at the expiry of their contracts, or Darnell Furlong, Tom Fellows, and Torbjørn Heggem seeking out big moves away from the Baggies.
Heggem won the Championship side a whopping £10m when moving onto the Serie A with Bologna, with Mason then using this added cash to purchase sparkling new gems such as Aune Heggebo and Nathaniel Phillips.
Still, West Brom do look to be heading to another crucial summer in terms of who will be staying and leaving when 2026 rolls around, with some key first-team personnel yet to pen extended deals past June of that year, worrying the rookie boss.
West Brom's contract situation heading into 2026
Mason will be thinking long and hard about the futures of many of his camp, especially those who only have their contracts in play until next June.
Josh Maja will hope – despite his injury issues – that he will be putting pen to paper on an extension shortly.
He has fired home 14 goals to date for the West Midlands side, one of which came before the international break when he was reinstated into his new manager’s first-team plans against Norwich City. With goalscorers often hard to come by, the ex-Sunderland striker should be staying put.
On the contrary, despite bagging 17 Championship goals when fit, the plug must surely be pulled on Daryl Dike’s Baggies career soon – as his contract is also up in June.
The injury-prone American last featured for Mason’s men at the end of last season, way before the ex-Tottenham Hotspur coach was handed the Hawthorns gig.
Jed Wallace will also be fearful regarding his expiring deal next summer, despite still being the West Brom captain.
He has only been handed four league starts by his new manager and with only six starts under his belt last season, too, the 31-year-old might well be on serious borrowed time in attempting to stake a serious claim to remain.
There is another face that hasn’t been mentioned yet that will also be seen as being close to the exit door, despite once costing a big-money fee to be tempted to the Hawthorns.
West Brom "goalscorer" now on borrowed time at the Hawthorns
In recent memory, West Brom haven’t been known to splash the cash, even if their new Nordic recruit in Heggebo did cost a significant £4.7m to obtain during the hectic transfer window this summer.
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That feels like a small amount to fork out when you weigh up that deal next to Karlan Grant’s £15m arrival from Huddersfield Town in 2020.
At the time, Grant was seen as a hot commodity worthy of such a lavish fee, having fired a lethal 19 goals for the Terriers in second-tier action across the 2019/20 campaign.
25/26
4
0
24/25
44
7 + 2
22/23
35
5 + 1
21/22
45
18 + 7
20/21
21
1 + 0
Further hailed as a “natural goalscorer” by his former Huddersfield boss Jan Siewert, the world would have been expected of the London-born attacker to dazzle in his new surroundings at West Brom.
Unfortunately, away from flashes here and there of his goalscoring excellence, it’s largely been a hot-and-cold time for Grant in the West Midlands, with just one goal picked up during his debut season, starting his Baggies tale off on a wobbly footing.
He has since bounced back to resurrect his faltering playing days, with his ex-teammate in the aforementioned Furlong even lauding him as “unstoppable” on his day when powering home seven strikes last season.
But, he has been firmly put to one side under Mason currently, with no Championship minutes afforded to him since a 30-minute run-out against Portsmouth in August.
With a respectable 54-goal haul in the second tier to date, Grant will surely be considering his options away from the Baggies moving forward.
West Brom will no doubt want to sell on their former £15m buy for some sort of a fee when the transfer window reopens, over risking losing him for absolutely nothing, like the Diangana situation that transpired last summer.