Ryan Mason has undergone a lot of pre-seasons as a player.
However, the former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder turned West Bromwich Albion boss is now close to completing his first summer in football as a rookie manager, with all the pre-season fixtures done and dusted ahead of Championship action kicking back off.
Mason will be hoping he’s the spark from the dug-out that guides the Baggies back up to the promised land of the Premier League, with West Brom deep into their fifth straight season as a second-tier outfit when matches get back underway.
The 33-year-old has been well-backed in the transfer window, with a whopping £4.7m solely splashed out on landing the clinical Aune Heggebo from Brann, as the lavish spending looks set to potentially continue in the centre-forward department.
West Brom could go back in for £4.3m star
The proof will soon be in the pudding as to whether that amount was too steep to fork out for Heggebo.
However, his numbers playing in his native Norway do not lie, with a mightily impressive 51 goals coming his way for Brann from 146 appearances. Subsequently, Mason is now spoiled for choice up top between his new, shiny 24-year-old and West Brom’s main marksman, Josh Maja.
He could have even more options to call into action if reports from Spain are to be believed, with a new update coming to light on West Brom’s previous centre-forward target, Chris Ramos.
Indeed, Diairo De Cadiz has stated that the Cadiz attacker is generating plenty of interest this summer in his services, but there is no rush to offload him just yet.
The La Liga 2 club is waiting for an offer in the £4.3m region to consider parting ways, having had a far lower £2.1m bid from the Championship side come their way in recent times.
The hope will be that the 6-foot-3 Spaniard can go on to be Mason’s very own Salomon Rondon, with the lofty striker often a physical brute when powering home goal after goal for Cadiz, much like the imposing Venezuelan was at the Hawthorns.
How Ramos can be Mason's own Rondon
Of course, when Rondon was leading the line as a formidable centre-forward, West Brom were seen as Premier League regulars, rather than second-tier promotion material.
While the now 35-year-old was never the most clinical or the most eye-catching – with a reasonable 28 strikes coming his way from 120 Baggies outings – nobody could speak ill about his commitment to the cause, as his final season at the Hawthorns saw him win a dominant 7.7 duels on average per Premier League clash.
Ramos has shown off a similar prowess in the air for Cadiz all across his ongoing stay at his hometown club, with this powerful effort above showing off the 28-year-old’s ability to head home under pressure in a similar vein to Rondon.
Staggeringly, Ramos wasn’t too far off Rondon’s duels won total either when plying his trade in La Liga during the 2023/24 campaign, as the Spanish forward averaged a mighty 7.1 successful duels per match, even as Gaizka Garitano’s side succumbed to relegation.
Games played
37
37
Games started
30
24
Goals scored
5
10
Scoring frequency
Every 525 minutes
Every 223 minutes
Big chances missed
16
15
Total duels won*
7.1
5.1
West Brom do need an option up top that can throw themselves about with conviction, especially with Daryl Dike now back in the treatment room, with Ramos also a reliable source of goals for Cadiz across his last two breakout seasons, as seen in his tally of 15 strikes in all competitions.
While Ramos might struggle initially to instantly break into the first-team ranks, possessing a striker with such strong physical attributes will be an effective weapon for Mason to have up his sleeve across the long EFL season to come.
If he does go on to be a success, the Cadiz number 16 could retrace Rondon’s footsteps even more by becoming a tough, no-nonsense attacker for the West Midlands outfit in the luxurious Premier League.
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