Callum McManaman's West Brom career drifting
Cut adrift in the academy team for half a year, Callum McManaman's Albion career continues to puzzle.
Such a long exile from first-team football at this stage of his life is worrying.
Most players hit their peak in their late 20s, but it is likely to be earlier for a winger whose game is so reliant on electric pace.
Now 25-years-old, the former Wigan wide-man will feel too many of his best months have been wasted in James Shan's developmental squad.
Three years ago he was named man of the match in an FA Cup final in front of 86,000 people and millions watching at home. He left Wembley with a winners' medal hanging around his neck.
Last night however, he lined up for Albion's under-23s at Aggborough in front of a few hundred.
No doubt he's frustrated at being frozen out for months on end. He wouldn't have expected this to happen when Tony Pulis bought him for £4.75million back in January 2015.
But opportunities dwindled after the head coach criticised him for diving against Southampton last season.
They disappeared altogether when McManaman suffered an ankle injury that required surgery.
Pulis prefers the malleable talents of Jonathan Leko and Tyler Roberts, both of whom are 17. And last night, you could see why.
Leko looked more threatening going forward, and Roberts, who was playing as a striker, was busy off the ball and decidedly calm on it.
The young Welsh forward won and converted a third-minute penalty that ended up being the match-winner. He and Leko are the future of the club, McManaman is not.
However, it's testament to his professionalism that he treated a match against Blackburn U23s with the same intensity as that day at Wembley.
After so long in exile, he would be forgiven for giving up.
But the fiery man from Merseyside got just as stuck in as he usually would, perhaps more out of frustration than anything else, and picked up a yellow card for a typically robust challenge.
Over summer, Pulis admitted he was trying to off-load the winger. A trio of Championship clubs – including Newcastle – were interested, but no deal could be brokered.
Unfortunately, his career is merely drifting until January, when the Baggies will try to sell him again.
He won't get another shot at the first team now, even though Albion desperately need attacking options on the bench. Those are spaces for Roberts and Leko to fill.
l Albion gave a trial to Ferdinand Takyi last night, a 22-year-old striker originally from Ghana who has played in Germany and for Farnborough Town. He slipped Roberts through for the penalty.
