Tony Mowbray greenlit a loan move for Tottenham Hotspur striker Will Lankshear before West Brom's transfer window ended
Tony Mowbray likes what he has seen so far from Will Lankshear in a West Bromwich Albion shirt so far, as the young loanee pushes for a first start when the Baggies face Millwall in need of a response on Saturday (kick off 3pm).
Albion were comfortably turned over by play-off rivals Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday night but Lankshear, borrowed from Tottenham Hotspur for the remainder of the season, turned in a second successive eye-catching cameo having been introduced from the bench in the second half.
There have been calls from some in the fanbase for Mowbray to partner the burly 19-year-old with fellow January signing Adam Armstrong, who scored on his debut in the win over Sheffield Wednesday but who saw another chalked off against Blackburn this week. Mowbray didn't rule that prospect out, either, after paying the teenager a compliment and promising that minutes are on the agenda.
However Albion line up when the team is announced at 2pm on Saturday, Mowbray has urged Lankshear, and indeed his centre forward counterparts, to ensure that he maintains a weekly selection headache, especially with the returns of Daryl Dike and Josh Maja on the horizon in the coming weeks.
"I think Lankshear did well when he came on the other day, but he's been very impressive in training," Mowbray said. "He's extremely strong for a 19 year old boy, he has immense power in both feet, he has intelligence and I'll be giving him game-time. The option will be sometimes to play Armstrong and Lankshear I suppose. Arma can play anywhere along the front. It'll depend what we need.
"You need to put players with goals against their name on the pitch. I am encouraged by young Will. He looks really exciting in training and, yes, we got Armstrong at the last minute who, in my mind, is guaranteed goals if you give him enough game time, but Will will be given an opportunity to play and hopefully he forces his way in.
"I was saying to Devante Cole the other day, when you get on the pitch bang one in because that'll make me think I have to give him a chance - his confidence will be up, he'll have scored. Don't come on, play on the wing and never see the goal - your job is to score. You want them all to do well but I can't play them all at the same time.
"It's good when you have guys banging the door because the guy in the team has to keep scoring or assisting to keep himself in the team. Let's see how we go, let's hope the strikers can really contribute."