There were many question marks hanging over the West Bromwich Albion team going into the new Championship season, with a mass exodus from the Hawthorns of top first-team talents seriously weakening Carlos Corberan's main XI.
Any doubts were firmly shoved to one side come full-time against Queens Park Rangers, however, as the likes of Josh Maja and other players previously stuck on the fringes stepped up to the mark in west London, with the ex-Sunderland striker even helping himself to a hat-trick in the convincing 3-1 victory.
Still, Corberan will be wary about the prospect of over-relying on the injury-prone striker across a full gruelling Championship campaign, with this striker target now on the mind of the West Midlands outfit.
West Brom considering move for new striker
As per Sky Sports journalist James Savundra, West Brom have Daniel Jebbison's name on an ever-growing list of potential new striker additions to target, with no Brandon Thomas-Asante now at Corberan's disposal.
However, there is expected to be significant competition ahead for the Baggies to overcome, in order to land the AFC Bournemouth striker on a loan deal this summer, with Sunderland noted as another interested party already.
What Jebbison can offer West Brom
The 21-year-old centre-forward is in need of breathing life back into his stuttering career, having only lined up for 17 league games over the last two seasons after former club Sheffield United, owing to injury difficulties.
Corberan could be the man to do just that for the new Cherries number 21, with the Spaniard proving back at the Hawthorns that he can be beneficial towards the development and improvement of raw attacking talents, seen in Tom Fellows now being a key first-team star under the Baggies manager.
Fellows shone on the opening day alongside Maja, with the Baggies academy product assisting the on-fire forward's second of the day, with the potential for him to get more out of Jebbison in a similar way, if West Brom land their desired target.
Despite Jebbison's limited game time over the past few seasons hindering his development, the in-demand marksman is still viewed as an exciting talent that could explode back into life if everything clicks into place, hence the number of clubs wanting to take him on this summer.
This would be a risky move, as the Baggies already have the likes of Daryl Dike and the aforementioned Maja on their books who are injury-prone, but Jebbison – who has been dubbed a "handful" by teammate Lewis Cook – could turn into a goal machine for the Championship promotion hopefuls if he's not cursed by finding himself constantly being in and out of the Hawthorns treatment room.
Team played for
Games played
Goals scored
Assists
Sheffield United
35
3
1
Burton Albion
23
9
0
Sheffield United U18s
6
6
0
Chorley
2
0
0
Jebbison has starred in the EFL in the past with Burton Albion with nine goals from 23 clashes, albeit in League One, but he was also shoved into the first-team mix at Bramall Lane off the back of his fruitful goalscoring exploits at youth level in South Yorkshire, with six in six for the U18s once upon a time.
It will be up to the former Blades star to find this lethal edge in front of goal again if he is picked to be West Brom's leading man, to allow the promotion hopefuls to completely forget about Thomas-Asante, with Fellows also potentially helping him to get back to his free-flowing peak by creating chances galore down the right flank.
Terrorising QPR defenders for fun on the opening day, Fellows will hope he can better his promising numbers from last season as a concrete part of Corberan's starting XI, with three assists registered last campaign from 33 league games.
He's already got one on the board, and Jebbison will be licking his lips at the prospect of the rampaging winger putting chances on a plate for him to score from, much like Maja was as a fox in the box versus the Hoops.
This could be the move Jebbison needs to get back to firing on all cylinders, as West Brom weigh up who will be their lone striker moving forward, now Thomas-Asante is at Coventry City.
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