Yahoo News West Brom have been robbed of one dynamic all season but there's time for an impact
Josh Maja must've worn a wry smile as he left the field in West Bromwich Albion under 21s' victory over Leeds United on Monday night. Having teed up Fenton Heard's opener, and then following it up with a first-half brace of his own, this was but a taste of what the centre forward is capable of.
The issue, clearly, is that Maja - before the final game of Albion's regular season - is playing at The Hawthorns, but in front of a near empty stadium on a Monday night alongside, and against, youngsters, as his latest recovery push reached another checkpoint. In another world, he'd have hit double figures, made 40 appearances and his first season with Albion would've gone according to plan.
Successive, serious, injuries to his ankle have totally derailed those aspirations. Maja, one of only three permanent signings Carlos Corberan has been able to make since being appointed by the club, has made 11 appearances but has accumulated a little over 180 minutes of Championship football this term. Forced off at Bristol City in September, he was on the receiving end of another heavy challenge at Sunderland in December.
"Josh is a really difficult one, because he'll as though he's had the season snatched away from him," Maja's captain, Jed Wallace, said. "I think if you run down the wing and pull a hammy, that's one thing. When you get cleaned out twice, on the same ankle, it's a tough one to take for him. He's a different profile to what we've got. He can link the play, where mine or Brandon's strengths is running in behind.
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"Josh likes to come to the ball, he's got a great first touch, he can link the play. He's signed a long term contract, he's got plenty of time to make an impact. If he scores a 90th minute winner, he'll have had a great season in my view. He can still make a great impact this year. He's someone there. The players we have outside of the squad at the moment shows the strength of the group."
It isn't the norm for Corberan to make the journey to wherever the 21s are playing to watch them in action, but he and his staff were all in attendance at The Hawthorns on Monday night. Maja won't be in line to make a start on Saturday for the visit of Preston North End, but Corberan was pleased by what he saw as he continues to build up his fitness levels ahead of a prospective play-off campaign.
"The other day sent the message that it was obvious he needed the minutes so he could be ready to help the team, in any type of scenario that I consider to be the right one," he said. "When the player has been, and I insist on this, out of the training with the group, which he unfortunately has because he accumulated two important injuries that didn't allow him to get his rhythm and to show his real level as a player - only bits before the injuries - you are going to need time.
"When you are six weeks on holiday and after you need to build your level, and you start to play 45, then 60, with the under 21s we had the opportunity to give him minutes. The minutes of the other day are not Championship minutes, which are impossible to replicate in the under 21s, you still find the option to improve physically. Maja now is in a better condition than he was without these 70 minutes."
Did Corberan possess any nerves as he watched Maja go about his business? Were there any intakes of breath every time he burst into a sprint?
"I was nervous when I watch him static! One thing is availability, the other thing is the skill to perform," Corberan smiled. "When the player is available, it doesn't mean anything. The player can have the medical possibility to play, but it doesn't mean he has the possibility to impact the game. I put him in the pitch without risk - the only risk was to not give him the minutes we gave. If I don't, then I don't imagine him playing the games.
"He needs these minutes to show the player he is. He needs them, without them it's impossible. If he plays 70 minutes and doesn't sprint, then I'm not achieving the target I want. The other day I watched Maja very fatigued from minute 15, and it was a very positive thing - the more fatigue he is accumulating, the more ready he is going to be in the next game. Without fatigue there isn't enough stimulation to make him ready."
