The traits that make Adam Reach a useful option for West Brom boss Carlos Corberan

The former Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday man is in the third of a three-year contract he penned after arriving as a free agent from the Owls in 2021. His terms at The Hawthorns expire this summer, among several other senior first-team players.

Boss Corberan, though, is an admirer of the versatile Reach’s physical, technical and tactical qualities.

“Everyone plays in different positions,” Corberan said. “I was thinking that Mowey (Mowatt) and Okay (Yokuslu) were fatigued. Both were arriving late in the challenge, then we didn’t have the energy to attack.

“Then we put Reach and (Yann) M’Vila in the middle of the pitch, with Grady (Diangana) playing more as a playmaker. We needed to be fresh in the middle and Reach is a player who can give you attacking possibilities.

“From the physical perspective he doesn’t have any type of limitation. From the technical perspective either. From the tactical perspective, even less, because he is clever, he is committed and he is a player who gives you everything.”

Reach did not play this season until the final match of 2023, due to a long-term thigh injury, and has made 13 appearances, all in the league, with four coming as a starter.

Reach, a winger or wing-back by trade, is an experienced campaigner and made in excess of 200 appearances at Wednesday, where he netted 24 goals in the process.

Finding the net has been rarer for Albion, though, and Reach has scored just twice for the Baggies, both in his debut season, a last-gasp equaliser at Bristol City and in a comfortable final-day success over Barnsley. In all he has totalled 72 appearances in Albion colours, though just 35 have been starts.

Corberan had anticipated Reach’s versatility as very useful for his squad this season, but the first half of his campaign was curtailed by a muscle injury, which required surgery, in a pre-season fixture at Burton in July.

“It’s not usual to have someone who can play as left-back, a winger, a central midfielder,” Corberan added of Reach. “He has a level of versatility which allows us to use it and help the team.”