Caleb Taylor hoping successful Cheltenham loan can put him in West Brom contention

The 20-year-old central defender made his Albion debut early last season - as a young Baggies side were beaten by Arsenal in the Carabao Cup.

After becoming a mainstay in the club's under 21 side - Taylor was the first youngster to head out on loan last summer and has now become a regular for Wade Elliott's side.

He has made 40 appearances for the Whaddon Road outfit this season, chipping in with two goals along the way.

Discussing his season on Albion's website, the towering central defender has revealed he is aware the first team staff at Albion are monitoring his progress - and he is hoping his experience this season will help towards his future at The Hawthorns.

He said: "I’ve just focused on Cheltenham this year and doing the best I can for them. Whatever happens later down the line will happen, but I know if I keep working hard, keep my head down and keep playing games, then everything will work itself out going forward.

"I know the first team at Albion are watching my clips and Bealey speaks to me quite a lot and he always catches up with me. This loan has given me a lot of experience to help me potentially come back to Albion and play, but now I’m concentrated on finishing the season well at Cheltenham."

The defender, who led Albion to PL Cup glory over Black Country rivals Wolves last season - has netted twice for the Robins so far this term and he could close out the campaign with 50 appearances to his name.

The youngster is delighted with the contribution he has made during his loan spell - and knew there would be a high expectation on him when he joined the club after speaking to another Albion academy graduate who had previously spent time at Whaddon Road.

He said: "Going into this year I looked ahead and wanted to play as many minutes as I could in first-team football. Coming to Cheltenham, I’ve played a lot of games which I’m very happy about and if I look back at the end of this season and I’ve nearly made 50 appearances, I’ll see that as a good accomplishment and a successful season playing higher up - which was the main thing I wanted at the start of it.

"Josh [Griffiths] texted me when I came here and told me how good the club, staff and the lads were to him when he came on loan here. I knew it was going to be good and they have high expectations of me because of the Albion players who’ve been here before, so I knew I had to keep the standards high and work hard like they did before me to maintain that expectation."