The powers that be at West Bromwich Albion would have been very aware that appointing Ryan Mason this summer was an almighty gamble.
After all, away from the odd caretaker game in charge of Tottenham Hotspur, the 34-year-old had never been a fully-fledged manager in North London. Rather, he was seen as a highly-regarded coach, attempting to get even more out of an exciting pool of youngsters at the Premier League club.
However, the early signs of his Baggies tenure show that he is cut out for the pressures of a main gig in the Championship, with three victories collected from his four clashes in the tough division sticking out.
Mason should be commended for this largely positive start, even if some defeats have started to pile up in recent games, having had to navigate his new side through a choppy summer in the transfer window.
West Brom's bumpy summer
Indeed, late on into the window, West Brom had to wave goodbye to homegrown favourite Tom Fellows, as a move to Southampton beckoned.
With Fellows tallying up a stunning 14 assists last season in Championship action, it was an obvious knock to the Baggies’ confidence losing their star-man to a second-tier promotion rival, with other notable departures only opening up the West Brom wound even more.
Torbjørn Heggem
45
£10m
Darnell Furlong
43
£3.5m
Semi Ajayi
15
Free transfer
John Swift
37
Free transfer
Grady Diangana
35
Free transfer
At least West Brom managed to get a considerable £8m out of the Saints to then part ways with their homegrown prodigy, with the second-tier giants unfortunately saying farewell to Semi Ajayi, John Swift, and Grady Diangana for nothing, alongside further seeing the back of Torbjorn Heggem to Bologna.
They have recovered, though, with the signing of Nathaniel Phillips from Liverpool boosting their depleted numbers in the heart of defence, alongside Isaac Price immediately stepping up in the absence of Fellows.
The ex-Everton starlet would chip in with two strikes in West Brom’s early-season victory on the road at Wrexham, with scout Jacek Kulig even going as far as to describe the Northern Ireland international as “outstanding.”
With Mason being well-known for working with some top youngsters at Spurs, there is one rising ace at the Hawthorns who could well fancy their chances now of being the next Price.
The "outstanding" youngster who could be another Price
After all, it appears that the 21-year-old just needed an appropriate platform to express himself, having been previously labelled as “tremendous” by journalist Joe Thomas when he was still just a youngster attempting to cut his teeth on Merseyside.
Despite such glowing praise, Price would never go on to make a first-team appearance for the Toffees, with Harry Whitwell hoping he’s not in danger of being forgotten about in a similar dismissive manner in the current youth set-up in the West Midlands.
Thankfully, he already trumps his midfield counterpart in terms of senior chances, with Whitwell even handed a run-out towards the tail-end of last season in the bread and butter of the Championship.
Having shone on the youth pitches at the Baggies for some time now, on top of being handed more first-team experience this campaign on loan with Robbie Savage’s Forest Green Rovers in non-league, it does feel as if the building blocks are all slowly falling into place for the 19-year-old to be a success under Mason very shortly.
Games played
90
First team appearances
3
Age
19
Goals scored
14
Assists
9
Savage has even gone out of his way to label the teenager as “outstanding” for his early efforts at the New Lawn, with his overall career goal contribution numbers coming in at a weighty 23, further reinforcing the argument that he could be a Price-level talent.
The promotion-chasing Baggies will have to play the long game here, however, with Whitwell out on loan in the National League for the remainder of the season.
But, if the unthinkable were to occur and Price moved on, alongside other damaging sales happening again, the time might finally be right for the Oxford-born youngster to leave his mark.