West Bromwich Albion have lost their way in the Championship over recent games, with Carlos Corberan’s men now going without a win in their last six contests in the unforgiving league.
Only one goal has rippled the back of the net from the last five encounters involving the goal-shy promotion contenders too, as the likes of Josh Maja up top continue to misplace their shooting boots.
Corberan will want Maja to find his golden touch in front of goal again to help his side break out of their dire slump in form, and to potentially be seen in the same breath as other potent strikers who have graced the Hawthorns turf over the years.
Memorable modern West Brom strikers
The former Sunderland man had endeared himself to the Baggies faithful with clinical performances earlier this season, with the 25-year-old boasting an incredible seven goals from seven league games at one point, as West Brom took the league by storm.
On that blistering form, West Brom fans must have been imagining that Maja was going to eclipse Dwight Gayle’s unbelievable goalscoring ability in the Championship, which saw the ex-Newcastle United attacker bag a mightily impressive 24 strikes for the Baggies during the 2018/19 campaign.
Other top performers in attack that will spring to mind is a far younger and raw Romelu Lukaku among many others, who announced himself to the English game playing for the then-Premier League outfit on loan, with 17 league strikes from 35 games during the 2012/13 season.
Of course, there are also names such as Peter Odemwingie, Salomon Rondon and more that are all fondly remembered for their efforts when playing for the West Midlands club, but not every hyped-up forward goes on to explode into life playing in the first team week in week out.
One such example even saw West Brom land a Golden Boy nominee through their own academy, only for him now to be playing in the lower depths of the EFL.
Jonathan Leko's time at West Brom
Jonathan Leko would find himself on the shortlist for the prestigious award back in 2017, after shooting up the ranks at the Hawthorns and winning himself some minutes in the men’s team.
The now 25-year-old attacker would go on to make 23 first-team appearances for the Baggies, helping himself to one goal and two assists along the way, with this Golden Boy recognition even seeing him lock arms with Kylian Mbappe who was also a fellow nominee and the eventual winner.
However, despite promising cameos in the first-team and spellbinding moments like this in the U23s making fans excited that Leko could be the next big thing out of the club, the four-time England U20 international now finds himself on the books of Milton Keynes Dons all the way down in League Two.
Whilst Mbappe plays for Real Madrid and is in the conversation for the main Ballon d’Or prize every year, Leko is grinding it out in the fourth tier of English football instead, where he has impressed it must be said.
Club played for
Games played
Goals scored
Assists
Birmingham City
50
1
0
Charlton Athletic
51
8
7
Burton Albion
1
0
0
MK Dons
46
8
4
Sourced by Transfermarkt
Looking at the table above, it’s clear that the 25-year-old has found it somewhat hard to pin down a club since his exit from the Hawthorns in 2020, but he has shown flashes of his excellence pulling on an MK Dons strip, with 12 goal contributions coming his way from 46 clashes.
Leko has, unfortunately, been sidelined with injury after injury this year – with no appearances coming his way this season for Scott Lindsey’s men so far as a result – as the one-time Golden Boy nominee aims to overcome more career hurdles.
The former homegrown West Brom talent must have been anticipating that his career would catapult into stardom around the time of his Global recognition, but instead, he is now a forgotten member of the Baggies’ youth set-up.
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