West Brom have tied down eight of their under 18s players – two of them despite intense interest from elsewhere – but have failed to persuade Tim Iroegbunam to remain at the club. Albion’s under 18s, managed by Peter Gilbert, reached the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup last season which included impressive victories over Tottenham and Everton, before they were beaten by eventual winners Aston Villa at Villa Park. Albion have handed three year contracts to right-back Ethan Ingram, who like teammate Rico Richards is an England under 19 international, winger Tom Fellows and forward Jovan Malcolm.
Academy manager Richard Stevens said: “To tie this group down off the back of a really good FA Youth Cup campaign is a great achievement for this football club. That group went way beyond expectations after getting to the semi-final, and have got everything they deserved from that. There’s a lot of promising youngsters with plenty of potential who can play in the Under-23s, go out on loan and hopefully, at some point, threaten the first-team squad in the future. So to have these boys commit to us is great news. Jovan Malcolm and Ethan Ingram had strong interest from other clubs, but the fact they’ve chosen to stay with us is a great accolade for the club.”
