Patience is the key for West Brom's number one

Palmer's debut full season as No.1 between the sticks for the club he joined early in his teens was a successful one as the shot-stopper landed the Championship's top individual award for keepers, shared with Leeds' Illan Meslier for 18 clean sheets.

The 27-year-old, from Kidderminster, had to bide his time before his first regular run of senior appearances with the Baggies came just before Carlos Corberan's appointment in October 2022. Palmer had previously been on the bench for Albion as far back as under Tony Pulis in 2015.

Having won his place in the side from David Button two years ago and then gone on to play every minute as Albion made the play-offs in 2023/24, Palmer recalled how key it was to remain calm earlier in his career when regular action was few and far between.

"Potentially, yeah," Palmer replied when asked if he sees himself as a late-starter. "I speak about it a lot with people close with me.

"When I was between 20 and 23 I didn't have many opportunities to go out and play a lot of football, so it was about being patient.

"I think that's one thing that I can't express enough, especially to younger lads, patience and not getting too worried about whether it's going to happen.

"But when it does happen – I remember going to Plymouth and thinking 'this is it, it's got to happen, it's either sink or swim' and luckily we had a good season and got promotion when it was curtailed for Covid.

"It was like stepping stones, you have to wait for your opportunity, be patient, and when it comes, take it with two hands."

A loan at Plymouth, who were in League Two at the time, was not Palmer's only venture away from The Hawthorns. He had stints firstly at hometown club Harriers, twice, before a pair of seven-day emergency loans in League Two, with Oldham and Notts County both in the 2018/19 campaign. He made just one appearance for both.

The promotion-winning Pilgrims season followed, a first full campaign of regular action curtailed by the pandemic but still long enough to clock up 41 appearances in all competitions. Palmer excelled the following season as he stepped up to League One Lincoln, where he played every minute of action as the Imps made the third-tier play-offs. A brief two-game emergency loan at Championship Luton followed in 2021/22.