Can West Brom wonderkid Adil Nabi make it big in the Premier League this season? [Metro]

The Metro

Despite spending £10million on Brown Ideye on Friday, West Bromwich Albion are still weak in the striker department, with only Victor Anichebe and Saido Berahino as the other senior forwards.

The Baggies have been linked with several players, such as Emmanuel Riviere from Monaco and Juventus forward Fabio Quagliarella.

However, neither have joined Albion and head coach Alan Irvine and his backroom staff have said they want to invest in the talented youth players already at club.

Berahino made his breakthrough last season, scoring a winner at Old Trafford and ended up the club’s top scorer in all competitions, but this year another Albion young gun could make the same step up.

Adil Nabi has been a regular scorer for the youth sides and is technically a gifted footballer. He brings others into play with superb technique and skill. During the 2010-11 season he shone for the under 18 side and was promoted to the reserves.

A serious knee injury sustained in a pre-season game to AFC Telford last season ruled him out for a large proportion of the campaign, which effected his development as he could not go out on loan to gain some vital first team experience.

Nabi clearly has talents at such a young age, winning ‘young Asian footballer of the year’.

He has previously said he sees Berahino as an inspiration and wants to follow in the same footsteps. The England under 21 striker also sustained a serious injury before his breakthrough into the Albion setup.

He has clearly worked hard on the training field, earning a place in the first team. He started in Albion’s first pre-season game against Bury, alongside the likes of Victor Anichebe, Stephane Sessegnon and Claudio Yacob. He, like 10 other players, was subbed at half time as West Brom won the game 2-0.

It shows his determination to succeed and hunger to breakthrough into the first team after such a long and serious injury. Last season he was also enjoying a successful pre-season, before the injury, and could have broke into the first team then.

He has shown his goal scoring prowess on a international stage, scoring two goals on his debut for England under 17s.

After the disappointment last pre-season, Nabi has been given a golden chance to show Irvine that he is ready for the first team and that he can replicate the form shown by Berahino before him.

West Brom still need to sign more strikers, and the experience any such signings bring will help Nabi develop into a Premier League striker. He is young, fresh and determined to make an impact. With the right assistance from the coaching team, he could emulate and maybe better Berahino last year.