West Brom boss makes 'certainly' pledge when it comes to new recruit Alfie Gilchrist

The 21-year-old right-back, a summer capture from Chelsea for £1.2million, is yet to feature for the Baggies.

Head coach Mason suggested that Blues academy graduate Gilchrist is playing catch up from a physical perspective having arrived at The Hawthorns just a few days before the transfer deadline.

Gilchrist has so far played second fiddle to another summer signing, central defender George Campbell, who has so far operated in a more unnatural right-back role.

Asked if Gilchrist was close to a debut and more involvement, Mason replied: "Yes, he is.

"I don't know how many days we've had Alfie in the building, but it's probably not much longer than two weeks, whereas George (Campbell) has been in probably two months, so it's understanding and respecting that as well.

"When you get business done in the last day or two of a transfer window, players are going to need time to understand what we want and what we expect from them.

"Yes, we're certainly going to need Alfie, and Alfie's going to play a lot of football for us this season."

Gilchrist was recruited as a replacement for Darnell Furlong after the long-serving full-back was sold to Championship rivals Ipswich for £4m.

London-born Gilchrist was with boyhood club Chelsea from under-11s level and served years of his time in the Chelsea academy as a centre-back. He broke into the first-team squad in 2023 and went on to feature 17 times, scoring once.

He spent last season on loan at Sheffield United in the Championship and made 32 appearances for the Blades. Gilchrist agreed a four-year deal at Albion this summer.

The right-back is one of five of nine Albion summer recruits still awaiting a first start, including Krystian Bielik, Toby Collyer, Sammy Iling-Junior and Charlie Taylor.