Star turn and must do better - grading the West Brom loans from 2025/26
Fortunes have been mixed for Albion in the loan department this term - with more misses than hits.
Albion loaned seven players across the disappointing 2025/26 campaign.
The Baggies just about scraped to Championship survival under the heroics of James Morrison, the club’s third head coach of a dismal season.
After several seasons of poor return on loan deals, we review the performances of this season’s crop.
Toby Collyer
Arrived from Manchester United with no shortage of promise as Albion won the race. Collyer showed very brief glimpses but could not shake several fitness issues.
Immediate loan recall in the new year after just three starts and nine more as a substitute. Subsequently joined play-off outfit Hull but, now 22, played just five times with a single start.
Grade - E
Samuel Iling-Junior
Checked in with the sizeable expectation of having to replace Tom Fellows. Villa’s Iling-Junior, who had been with Juventus, Bologna and Middlesbrough, went on to struggle.
His preferred position was never locked down, but being left-footed it felt his preference was on that side. Scored a stunning individual effort on his debut but that was his only goal. Played 24 times, with 14 starts, in a variety of roles, but often struggled.
Grade - D+
Charlie Taylor
Arrived as some experience as a back-up left-back but was scarcely needed due to the form of player of the season Callum Styles.
Played 28 times in total and often found himself as a back-up central defender, in either a two or a three. The 32-year-old Southampton man fared well on occasion as a centre-back, but was limited.
Grade - C-
Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba
A late January arrival returning from Villa to the club he started at. Jimoh-Aloba lacked the experience required but managed to make something of an impact.
He did not find the net in his 11 appearances - four as a starter - but showed flashes of the quality he undoubtedly has for the 19-year-old’s first proper taste of senior action. Comfortable and confident on the ball with an eye for a pass, he has the potential to kick on.
Grade - C
Hindolo Mustapha
By and large a waste of time for all as Mustapha checked in from Crystal Palace as the 11th hour final January addition.
The teenage attacker started once and played 45 minutes in the FA Cup at Norwich - and went close once or twice on his first ever senior club minutes - but was barely seen again. The 19-year-old made a cameo against Southampton in March.
Clearly not ready or trusted to add anything to Albion’s survival push.
Grade - E
Danny Imray
One of the Baggies’ best loan deals of the last five or six years.
Signed as a wing-back under Eric Ramsay just before the system was ditched at a chaotic point of Albion’s season, Imray endured a very difficult start.
He recovered in remarkable style under Morrison, where at right-back he shone and helped play a leading role in survival. Attack-minded, he got the fans off their seats and improved defensively too.
Albion would love to sign him permanently.
Grade - A
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