West Brom's Cole Deeming: From Brummie Road to first-team squad
Cole Deeming appreciates more than most making the grade with Albion.
The 18-year-old central midfielder is one of hottest prospects in Leigh Downing's under-21s squad and travelled as a substitute for Saturday's 3-0 first-team defeat at Millwall.
Deeming has come a long way since he first set foot in The Hawthorns - as a three-year-old with a season ticket with Baggies-mad dad Neil in the Birmingham Road end.
The Halesowen youngster used to cheer on Peter Odemwingie and cited the remarkable 5-5 draw against Manchester United on Sir Alex Ferguson's farewell in May 2013 among his earliest memories.
Now he has signed two professional contracts with his boyhood club - the latest in August until 2027 - captained the under-21s at The Hawthorns, made his senior debut and impressed new boss Ryan Mason.
"It's every young Albion fan's dream to play," Deeming told the Express & Star. "I'm sure there's many of the young kids in the crowd that would want to do it. I was one of them.
"My dad started taking me when I was three in the Brummie Road - and I'm living the dream.
"I remember being at the top of the Brummie and that and taking my top off and swinging it around."
Deemings' mum and dad were at The Hawthorns in a different capacity last week, to watch their son lead out the under-21s in continental competition against FC Nordsjaelland.
The teen joined Albion at the age of just six. He had some involvement at Halesowen Town Colts but began catching the eye of Baggies academy staff at a young age.
Fast-forward just over a decade and, aged 17, he made his senior debut in the EFL Cup against Fleetwood under Carlos Corberan.
Deeming, a ball-playing left-footed midfielder with a penchant for a long-range strike, marked his first-team bow by unearthing a message posted on social media from his dad in 2013, which read (sic): "Is there a better feeling than seeing your 6 yr old run out in the colours of the team you've supported all your life"
It has been quite the last 18 months or so for Deeming, who enjoyed a breakthrough spell at under-21s late in the 2023/24 campaign and found himself a regular last term, which also brought the senior debut.
He made an impression on new head coach Mason - himself a former academy coach with Tottenham - this summer and was included on the pre-season tour to Austria as well as in three first-team matchdays so far this season.
The midfielder has had to adjust, but has taken it in his stride. He said: "I feel like I've been here so long it's just kind of normal now.
"Obviously there are still times, like when I signed my first pro (contract) and I was like 'wow!' - obviously not that I'd made it, but that I've got this far. Sometimes I have sat back and thought 'I'm actually doing it, I'm actually here.'"
Deeming added: "Going into pre-season it was always a target for me (to make an impression) because it's a fresh start, a new manager, new coaching staff.
"You go in the first day and I was kind of hoping to be with them and then from there it was just about making that good impression and hopefully getting them to like me, which I think I did in pre-season.
"Obviously I came on in most of the pre-season games and then being around the squad a lot now in training. That has been the main thing for me."
