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More youthful talent in Albion recruitment drive

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Transfer chief Dan Ashworth today revealed Albion are targeting younger signings as they gear up for Steve Clarke's first season in charge.

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Transfer chief Dan Ashworth today revealed Albion are targeting younger signings as they gear up for Steve Clarke's first season in charge.

The Baggies, who have welcomed teenage goalkeeper Joe Coll for a training stint with their academy, have turned the focus on younger players this summer.

The club focused on experienced Premier League performers when they returned to the top flight two years ago but this summer they have recruited 22-year-old Yassine El

Ghanassy, 25-year-old Claudio Yacob and 29-year-old Ben Foster. Sporting and technical director Ashworth said: "It's been an interesting two or three years for us. When we got promoted last time around we thought that perhaps we'd lost a little bit of Premier League knowhow from the time before and we perhaps needed to sign a few players with Premier League experience.

"Our existing players, like Chris Brunt, James Morrison, Scott Carson and Jonas Olsson had experience in the Premier League and were two or three years further down the line.

"But we brought in Paul Scharner and Steven Reid, we brought in Zoltan Gera last summer and Keith Andrews joined us as well, so we signed a few players around the age of 30 with a lot of experience of the Premier League.

"All the time our younger players, like Graham Dorrans and Youssouf Mulumbu, have been starting to reach a nice age, around 25, 26 and 27, and get a bit more experience.

"So we wanted to try to freshen it up a bit this summer, perhaps not going as much for experience but trying to bring in some younger ones as well."

Coll, who left Manchester United at the end of last season, has begun training with the Albion academy so coaches can assess his potential.

The 18-year-old joined the Red Devils from Irish League football in 2010 on a three-year contract but asked to be released a year early.

Summer signing Yassine El Ghanassy is set to figure for a young 'Albion XI' in a friendly at Stockport tonight with fellow young professionals Luke Daniels, Scott Allan, Sam Mantom, George Thorne and Saido Berahino also included.

Full squad: L Daniels, Lewis, Atkinson, Garmston, Thorne, D Daniels, Gayle, Roofe, Mantom, Berahino, Allan, El Ghanassy, Sawyers, Nabi, O'Sullivan, Birch, Francis, K Brown, A Jones.

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