West Bromwich Albion are about to begin a new era as Valerien Ismael will take charge at The Hawthorns for the 2021-22 season and beyond.

The French former defender masterminded a top six finish for Barnsley in the Championship last season when the Tykes had just finished above the relegation zone in the summer of 2020.

It was a remarkable achievement and one that got a lot of eyes on Ismael, and he was linked heavily to the job at Crystal Palace.

But it is the Baggies who have plucked him from Oakwell in the end and the onus is now on him to guide them back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

West Brom open their season with an away clash with AFC Bournemouth, who themselves will probably have a new manager by the time the two sides meet - let’s take a look at how Ismael could have his team line up at the Vitality Stadium.

After his performances in the 2020-21 season and his first appearance for England recently, it’s difficult to see Sam Johnstone remaining at The Hawthorns beyond this summer.

Johnstone will have Premier League interest and recouping a decent fee for him could mean that Alex Palmer finally gets a chance between the sticks for West Brom.

The 24-year-old has never made a senior appearance for the club but he’s come on leaps and bounds in the past two years on loan with Plymouth Argyle and Lincoln City.

Palmer was one of the stand-out stoppers in League One last season and you get the feeling that he’s ready for the responsibility of being West Brom’s number one.

Following the release of several players at the end of this past season, the Baggies do not have a wealth of defensive options and with Ismael’s preferred system being a 3-4-3, a flying wing-back is needed to get up and down the pitch.

Matt Phillips could probably do the job in an unnatural position but West Brom do have one natural right-back already in Darnell Furlong and he will be more than good enough.

Furlong played 35 times in the Premier League last season so he was trusted to do a job and he should excel back in the second tier.

When playing for Rotherham United in the 2018-19 season, Semi Ajayi netted seven times for the Millers in the Championship, including some stunning long-range strikes where he brought the ball out from the back.

Ismael’s style isn’t known for his centre-backs being ball players, but the Nigerian international can do that and he can also be a powerhouse of a defender as well.

Ajayi showed in the 2019-20 campaign as to why the Baggies brought him in and he played 33 times in the top flight last season, so considering he was one of the top centre-backs at this level when he was first there with West Brom he should theoretically be even better now.

West Brom need a real leader in the middle of their back three and there’s no better person to look to than Kyle Bartley.

Some may doubt his abilities to be a regular in the Premier League but the fact Bartley played 30 times last season showed that he was trusted by both Slaven Bilic and Sam Allardyce.

Bartley has only just turned 30 so he still has some years in him - he’ll never do anything special with the ball and dribble past four opposition players but you know you’re getting a really solid, reliable hand when he plays and Ismael will need that.

Dara O’Shea had 28 outings in the Premier League for West Brom last season, but in a back three you could really do with a natural left-footed player - although it’s not a necessity - and interestingly the club have been linked with one recently.

The contract of Kean Bryan at Sheffield United will be expiring next week and he fits the mould of a young, left-sided defender who has experience at a higher level.

Interestingly it took Chris Wilder nearly three seasons to give Bryan a chance at Bramall Lane, but he made 13 appearances last season and even scored at Old Trafford.

Bryan probably needs a season back in the Championship with regular minutes under his belt to see where he’s really at and he could fit right in at The Hawthorns.

Much like the right-hand side of the pitch, there isn’t much in the way of options at left-wing-back and no players have been linked so far so Conor Townsend right now would be taking this place.

Allardyce seemed to like Townsend as he was an ever-present under him at the back end of the season, but they could probably add some competition in this position to give the 28-year-old a bit of a challenge now Kieran Gibbs has left.

Ismael’s trusty left-wing-back at Barnsley was Callum Styles but West Brom probably won’t be in the business of throwing millions of pounds around this summer, and that’s exactly what the youngster would cost.

So for now the position is Townsend’s unless Ismael plucks out a gem to take his place.

Ismael usually chooses two central midfielders and when West Brom were last at this level, Romaine Sawyers’s performances won him a place in the Championship Team of the Season.

But he only made 19 Premier League appearances last term and he may not suit playing next to another playmaker who could be arriving at the club, so the hard-working Jake Livermore could be the man here.

West Brom’s skipper played a similar amount of games to Sawyers as Allardyce selected Turkish loanee Okay Yokuslu instead to hold it down in the engine room, but he will feel back at home in the Championship.

And right next to Livermore could be a new arrival as Ismael’s appointment has seen one of his former Barnsley players linked in Alex Mowatt.

The 26-year-old has let his Tykes contract run down and it seems very unlikely now that he will be penning a new one.

Mowatt was one of the stand-out midfielders last season, scoring eight times and assisting seven goals and according to The Athletic, West Brom are hoping to beat other Championship clubs who have offered him terms to his signature.

It would be a really good pick-up for the Baggies and Mowatt would no doubt relish the opportunity to link up with Ismael again.

West Brom fans and neutrals alike are not expecting Matheus Pereira to be a Championship player next season, with the Brazilian destined for the top flight of a big European league.

That gives the opportunity for someone else to step up to the plate in Ismael’s 3-4-3 and that could go to Grady Diangana, who will have been slightly forgotten about by fans.

Diangana barely played a part in the second half of the 2020-21 season following his £18 million move from West Ham United, but when he was on loan at The Hawthorns the season prior he netted eight times and assisted a further eight goals.

Back in the Championship, the 23-year-old could really flourish once again and show West Brom fans what they missed last season.

There’s no Chelsea for Callum Robinson to score against next season, but after two seasons in the Premier League a step back down to the second tier should be no problem for the Ireland international.

It was Robinson’s scoring exploits for Preston North End in his final season - where he scored 12 times in 27 outings from the wing - that led to Sheffield United making a move for him in the summer of 2019, but it didn’t quite work out for him and he ended up at the Baggies, first on loan but then permanently in a swap deal with Oliver Burke.

Robinson should have a massive part to play in West Brom’s season and it would be not surprise to see him hit double figures in a system that will see him in and around the box a lot.

When West Brom splashed out £15 million on Grant after a 19-goal season with Huddersfield, Baggies fans probably thought that he’d have the end product to keep them in the Premier League for more than one season.

Grant was given plenty of opportunity in the first part of the season under Slaven Bilic but he failed to really make an impact, and then Sam Allardyce was reluctant to use him as Mbaye Diagne came in and scored goals.

Like many players at the club though, Grant will not be harmed by taking a step back down to the Championship and under an attack-minded coach like Ismael he could see him be the league’s top scorer next season if he’s firing on all cylinders.