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West Bromwich Albion will be hoping to challenge for promotion from the Championship this season, and what part Josh Maja will be able to play in that remains to be seen.
The Baggies enjoyed an excellent campaign last season as they finished fifth in the table, but they suffered heartbreak as they were beaten by Southampton in the play-off semi-finals.
Albion have brought in four new signings so far this summer as head coach Carlos Corberan looks to rebuild his squad, with Joe Wildsmith, Torbjørn Heggem, Paddy McNair and Ousmane Diakite arriving at The Hawthorns, while a host of senior players have left the club, including Erik Pieters, Martin Kelly, Nathaniel Chalobah, Yann M’Vila, Matt Phillips and Adam Reach.
Baggies supporters will be looking forward to seeing their new additions in action, but one player they will be hoping can play a key role this season is striker Maja, who has endured a frustrating start to his time at the club.
Maja joined Albion from Bordeaux last summer, and expectations were high that he could fire Corberan’s men to promotion after he scored 17 goals for the French side in the 2022-23 season, but he was plagued by injuries throughout the campaign.
The 25-year-old is now back to full fitness, and Corberan said in April that he believes Maja can be an important player for his side in the years to come.
“He comes back here with a desire to put all of his football and all his improvement in England again, so it made me feel excited in the summer with his quality, desire and maturity, but unfortunately the injuries stopped his progress or immediate impact,” Corberan told Birmingham Live.
“It doesn’t mean it has decreased our level of belief in him, because I think he’s a special player that with our position and possibilities last summer we understood he was the best player we could achieve.
“That’s why he’s here. He is a player we are of course looking forward to seeing more, to work more time and seeing him more in games.”
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