Technical director Dan Ashworth feels Tariq Lamptey's decision to leave his boyhood club Chelsea has been vindicated, and says he has been delighted to see the 20-year-old's impact.
“I don't want to speak for Tariq, but I think it was a case of him wanting to go and play football, his pathway was blocked by a super, young player in Reece James who was in his position. Tariq thought he might need to look to play his football somewhere else.
“We were lucky enough to take advantage of that and give him an opportunity to play.
“You can only play 11 people at a time, you can only give a pathway to a certain amount of people at a time and keep a certain amount happy.
“This happens on a regular basis at all clubs, it just so happened that we had an opportunity where a couple of our right-backs were coming to the end of their contracts. Schelotto was out of contract and Montoya was leaving.
“We had a space coming up and maybe we had a chance to give Tariq some games and exposure and he has taken it with both hands. You don't quite know what you have got with a young player until you chuck them in and give them a go.”
Lamptey had been on Albion's and Ashworth’s radar for a number of years, prior to his arrival in January.
“I have known about Tariq from my England days. [Albion's head of recruitment and analysis] Paul Winstanley flagged him in the under-23s league. We knew that his contract was running down at Chelsea and we knew that they would offer him a new contract.
“But it was a situation where I guess he had seen Reece James who is a similar age, who is a top player by the way and an England right-back, blocking his path.”
The technical director was speaking on the Training Ground Guru Podcast, which you can listen to in full by clicking here.