Jeremy Sarmiento could make his West Brom debut at Blackburn, five players set to miss out

West Brom will be without five players as they prepare to face Blackburn Rovers in the season opener, according to BirminghamLive.

The news outlet reported on 4 August that the Baggies will be without long-term absentees Daryl Dike, Grady Diangana, Martin Kelly and Adam Reach, while new signing Josh Maja will not be available for the trip to Ewood Park on 5 August.

Albion boss Carlos Coberan has, however, revealed that Jason Molumby is fit ahead of the game and new addition Jeremy Sarmiento could be in line to make his debut as he is part of the squad heading to Lancashire.

“Sarmiento is a different situation,” said Corberan. “The only difficulty with him is that he had surgery last March and the process of the surgery was finished two weeks after we started pre-season. It allowed him to be working with Brighton for 10 days before they travelled to the US.

“He did eight to 10 days working with them, so he arrived here with six or seven training sessions with the group. It means that he is not ready, but he’s available. There’s a difference.”

It’s not great to hear that West Brom will be without so many first-team players for the start of the season, but the majority of the absentees are as expected.

It will be disappointing for Albion fans to hear that Maja won’t be in line to make his debut after Corberan said there is “no chance” that he will play in the game.

That will leave Brandon Thomas-Asante as the only forward option available to the Baggies manager, so he is going to have to be at his best on Saturday.

Although Corberan admitted Sarmiento isn’t quite fit yet, it’s positive news to hear that he will be part of the squad and could be a useful option off the bench as it seems unlikely he will start.

There’s no doubt the manager would’ve liked to get more players through the door by this point, but he’ll be confident that the group he takes to Blackburn can come away with a result.