West Brom are facing a crucial period over the next few weeks as they aim to get their squad sorted for the start of the new Championship campaign.

The Baggies have undergone plenty of change during the summer with Valerien Ismael coming into the club to replace Sam Allardyce as manager.

There will be a lot of expectation on the 45-year-old to repeat the success he enjoyed with Barnsley last season when he guided the Tykes to a top-six finish against the odds.

West Brom have so far this summer managed to bring in the likes of Quevin, Alex Mowatt and Matt Clarke so far to strengthen their squad heading into the new campaign.

However, more work is needed for them to have enough in their squad to be confident of bouncing back at the first time of asking.

Ismael has a group of quality English players at the Hawthorns to call upon next term as have the rest of the Baggies’ managers in the last 15 years.

With that in mind, here we take a look at the best XI of English players that have featured for the Baggies in the last 15 years with a 4-3-1-2 formation selected…

This what a lot more of a difficult choice than it would have been a few years ago with Sam Johnstone having been so impressive for the Baggies in the last two campaigns. However, starting off this line-up simply has to be Ben Foster between the sticks.

Foster is one of the best goalkeepers that West Brom have had in a long time and he was an excellent performer for the club throughout his seven seasons at the Hawthorns.

The keeper arrived at the Hawthorns in the summer of 2011 on a season-long loan deal from Birmingham City following the Blues’ relegation from the Premier League the campaign before.

He was very swiftly the Baggies’ first-choice keeper in the 2011/12 campaign and made some stand-out saves and made 37 appearances for them in the top-flight.

The following summer saw West Brom make a permanent move for Foster and it would be a signing that proved to be a real bargain for them with him managing to record seven clean sheets in 30 appearances in the 2012/13 campaign as the Baggies secured an 8^th place finish.

The 2013/14 season saw him not be quite as influential for the Baggies but he still recorded three clean sheets in his 24 appearances, before registering an impressive tally of 11 clean sheets in 28 league games the next term.

That came before he had another campaign where he struggled to make much impact only making 15 appearances in 2015/16.

The final two seasons at West Brom for Foster saw him be a near ever-present for the Baggies and he managed to keep ten clean sheets for them in 37 appearances in the 2017/18 season despite them suffering relegation. Following their relegation, he opted to move to Watford.

Coming into the side in the right-back position is Steven Reid who is able to make an appearance in the line-up due to being born in England despite the fact that he represented the Republic of Ireland internationally. That was due to his grandfather rather than his nationality by birth.

Reif is fully deserving of his place in this side and comes in just ahead of Darnell Furlong based solely on the longevity he gave the club in the last 15 years when compared with West Brom’s current first-choice right-back.

The defender first arrived at the Hawthorns on a loan deal from Blackburn Rovers during the 2009/10 season and he managed to make ten Championship appearances in which he scored once against Coventry City. That saw him play a role in helping the club secure promotion to the Premier League.

The following summer, West Brom made his loan move a permanent one and the defender went onto make 27 appearances in total and scoring twice in his first campaign as a full-time member of the Baggies’ squad.

In the next campaign, Reid managed to make a further 22 league appearances before suffering an ankle ligament injury in March 2012 against Chelsea.

The right-back struggled for fitness in his final two years at the Hawthorns but when he did feature he was always to bring quality and composure to the defence.

Making the line-up at the heart of the defence is Craig Dawson and he more than earns his place here due to the consistency he managed to produce in both the centre-back and right-back position during his spell with the club.

Dawson was first signed by the Baggies in the summer of 2010 from Rochdale after he had produced a number of quality displays for Dale and was loaned straight back to them for the 2010/11 campaign as part of the deal.

The following season, Dawson was a firm part of West Brom’s squad and he managed to make 12 appearances in all competitions for the Baggies.

However, the following year the form of others in the squad saw him limited to just a single Premier League appearances as Steve Clarke guided his side to an 8^th place finish. He did though spend a brief spell on loan with Bolton Wanderers.

After being a bit-part player in the 2013/14 campaign, Dawson then fully established himself as a crucial player at the Hawthorns with his versatility and threat from set-pieces crucial for the Baggies in the next five campaigns.

Dawson racked up 225 appearances for the club by the time he left at the end of the 2018/19 season after West Brom had failed to secure an immediate return to the Premier League.

He has since featured for Watford before joining West Ham and helping them a sixth-place finish last term.

Alongside Dawson at the heart of the Baggies’ defence is Kyle Bartley and he makes the side for his exceptional performances for West Brom during his time with the club.

Bartley arrived at the Hawthorns in the summer of 2018 from Swansea City as the Baggies looked to strengthen their squad in order to challenge for promotion to the Premier League.

The defender was a key part of the squad and managed to make 28 appearances in the league and scored once as the club just missed out on promotion after finishing in the top-six.

In the 2019/20 campaign, Bartley was one of the Baggies’ best performers and he made 38 appearances in the Championship and helped West Brom record nine clean sheets in the process. The defender was as a result able to help Slaven Bilic’s side earn promotion.

Last term, Bartley showed that he has the quality to perform in the Premier League with the defender managing to make 30 appearances and score three goals. Unfortunately, he could not help them survive the drop.

Coming into the side in the left-back position is Kieran Gibbs and the defender is another player that was a standout performer for the Baggies in his position over the last 15 years.

Gibbs was signed by West Brom in the summer of 2017 from Arsenal after they had previously failed in their attempts to secure his services in other transfer windows.

The defender enjoyed a strong debut campaign at the Hawthorns making 33 Premier League appearances but he was unable to help them avoid relegation to the Championship.

In 2018/19, Gibbs was a real threat for the Baggies going forwards from the left-back position and he was able to register four goals and four assists in his 38 league appearances to help West Brom secure a top-six finish.

However, he was unable to help them earn promotion with a play-off semi-final defeat coming against Aston Villa.

The following campaign, Gibbs started the season as a key player once again, but he then suffered an injury which in the end limited him to just 14 league appearances. Despite that though he was able to be a key part of the squad as they earned promotion.

Last term, Gibbs made just ten Premier League appearances before he was snapped up by MLS side Inter Miami in March 2021.

Another one of West Brom’s current squad that makes this list is midfielder Jake Livermore who has earned his place in the midfield three here due to his consistent performances for the Baggies during his spell at the Hawthorns.

Livermore was signed by West Brom in January 2017 from Hull City and the midfielder instantly became a crucial member of the side under Tony Pulis.

He managed to make 16 appearances in the second half of the 2016/17 campaign to help the club secure a top-ten finish.

The following campaign, Livermore was again an integral part of the starting line-up and he managed to make 37 league appearances and scored twice in those matches. However, he was not able to prevent them from suffering relegation back down to the Championship.

In the next two campaigns, Livermore was again heavily involved in the Championship and he managed to make 45 league appearances to help Bilic’s side secure promotion back to the top-flight during the 2019/20 campaign.

His leadership qualities and ability to get stuck in out of possession had been keen for West Brom that season.

Last term, Livermore managed to make just 17 league appearances as other midfield options were often selected ahead of him. The midfielder now faces the task of convincing Ismael he is the right man to be relied upon in the middle of the park.

Similarly to Reid, James Morrison makes this line-up despite having represented a different national team other than England. The midfielder was born in England but qualified for the Scottish national side due to his grandparents.

Morrison had started his career with Middlesbrough but after three seasons in their first team he made the switch to the Hawthorns in the summer of 2007.

It proved to be a magnificent signing for the Baggies and the midfielder was an integral part of their side for the next 12 seasons barring periods out injured.

In Morrison’s first campaign, the midfielder stood out in the Championship with his quality and composure in possession and he managed to play a vital role in the club’s promotion in 2008 making 43 appearances and scoring six times in all competitions.

However, despite performing well on the whole in the 2008/09 campaign Morrison was unable to help the Baggies survive the drop. He only featured 12 times in all competitions the following campaign but still played a part in helping West Brom secure another promotion.

For the next nine seasons, Morrison was a crucial member of the squad and all but one of those was spent in the Premier League and that shows how influential he was at keeping the club in the top-flight. Morrison is now retired and is a first-team coach at the Hawthorns.

Just about edging out Craig Gardner for the final centre-midfield position is Jonathan Greening and he deserves his place here due to the consistency he displayed for the Baggies during his spell with the club.

Greening was signed by West Brom in the summer of 2004 from Middlesbrough and as a result, his first two campaigns for the club fall outside of the time period that we are concerned with.

However, Greening was still an excellent performer for the Baggies during the 2006/07 season in the Championship with the midfielder managing to make 52 appearances in all competitions to help the Baggies make it all the way to the play-off final which they lost 1-0 against Derby County.

The following campaign, Greening played a vital role in the Baggies securing promotion back to the top-flight with him making 46 league appearances and proving to be a class above the English second tier.

However, despite making 34 appearances the following campaign, Greening was unable to help the Baggies survive the drop in the 2008/09 season. After making well over 200 appearances for the Baggies he then left the club for Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2011.

It was very difficult to select the three attacking players that round-off this line-up with the Baggies having had an array of talented English forwards in the last 15 years.

However, Harvey Barnes makes it in here because of the sheer impact he brought to the table during his short-term spell at the Hawthorns in the first half of the 2018/19 campaign.

While it is also being factored in that the attacker is sure to be a huge performer for Leicester City and maybe even the England national team in the years to come.

Barnes arrived at West Brom on loan from Leicester in the summer of 2018 and it looked like an astute loan signing for the Baggies to have made.

However, few would have predicted just how good he was and he started the campaign on fire finishing up with a highly impressive tally of nine goals and six assists in 26 Championship appearances in the first half of the campaign.

The Baggies were desperate to keep hold of him, but Leicester unsurprisingly opted to recall him from his loan spell. As a result, West Brom had to change their tactics and ended up missing out on promotion.

Just about edging out Jay Rodriguez for one of the two places upfront in this system is Dwight Gayle.

That comes with the forward having arguably produced the best full campaign of form of any of the forwards that the Baggies have had in the last 15 years, apart from maybe Romelu Lukaku.

Gayle, like Barnes, spent just a brief period with the Baggies but he spent the full 2018/19 campaign on loan at the Hawthorns from Newcastle United.

The forward had a reputation for being almost too good for the Championship but not good enough for the Premier League, and that is kind of how it proved at West Brom with him ripping up defences in the English second tier.

In total, Gayle managed to fire home 23 league goals during his 39 appearances and finished with 24 goals in all competitions.

Despite that, he was unable to fire the Baggies back into the Premier League and he headed back to Newcastle at the end of the campaign.

Kevin Phillips completes this line-up and starts alongside Dwight Gayle upfront for West Brom in what would be a potentially devastating partnership with Barnes behind them supplying some dangerous through balls.

The forward signed from West Brom in the summer of 2006 from Aston Villa and in his first season with the club he managed to fire home 16 goals in the Championship in his 36 appearances for the Baggies.

Those goals proved vital in helping the club make it into the top-six in the table and make the play-off final which they lost against Derby County.

The following campaign, Phillips managed to produce even better form in front of goal for the Baggies in the Championship and his tally of 24 goals in all competitions helped to fire the club back into the Premier League.

Despite his goals being so key to their promotion push, West Brom allowed him to leave the club in the summer of 2008 with him joining Birmingham City.