Luke Moore’s Albion future looked bleak today after he was frozen out of Saturday’s draw at Portsmouth.

The former Villa man could now top a list of players heading out of The Hawthorns in the summer after failing to make the squad for the trip to Fratton Park.

Manager Tony Mowbray preferred 17-year-old youth team forward Chris Wood to £3m signing Moore for the 2-2 draw with Pompey.

And that decision will spark the strongest speculation yet that Moore’s days at the club are numbered.

Baggies sources confirmed that Moore was fit for selection but was not included in the travelling squad for Saturday’s match.

He even failed to win a call-up when fellow striker Roman Bednar injured a hamstring on the eve of the game with Mowbray calling on rookie New Zealander Wood instead.

Moore has started just 10 times and scored just once in 14 months with Albion and, although they will struggle to recoup their £3m outlay, the club now look more likely than ever to cut their losses on the 23-year-old.

Out-of-favour full-back Marek Cech and on-loan centre back Ryan Donk were also left in the West Midlands on Saturday and both look set to depart in the close season.

Despite coming under no pressure to sell players, Mowbray is keen to offload some of his squad in the summer to fund his own rebuilding plans. The manager still craves the holding midfielder he was unable to sign in January and he is likely to target extra firepower. Mowbray still hopes to sign Marc-Antoine Fortune on a permanent deal but Jay Simpson looks set to leave.

Simpson said: “I want to go back to Arsenal. The deal was for me to come to West Brom and get first-team experience. If I was thinking about coming back on loan, then what’s the point in going back to Arsenal?”