Ryan Mason urged to consider key West Brom change v Middlesbrough - it involves Callum Styles | OneFootball

Callum Styles was deployed in a new role whilst on international duty

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

West Bromwich Albion have started the 2025/26 Championship campaign in fine form.

The Baggies headed into this season in search of some much-needed consistency, after seeing four different managers operate out of the home dugout at the Hawthorns last term.

Ryan Mason was selected as the preferred antidote to cure these issues and already looks to have been an excellent choice.

The Black Country outfit have been clinical in their three league victories so far this year, edging out their opponents by just a single goal in each of them and currently sit fifth in the table after five games.

Callum Styles has played every single minute of Albion’s league campaign thus far, performing at an incredibly consistent level to stand out as one of the side’s key operators.

The 25-year-old has been deployed at left-back, his traditional position, by Mason during the early stages of this term, but the recent international break has given West Brom’s boss some food for thought.

Styles partnered Dominik Szoboszlai in Hungary’s midfield to great effect, performing brilliantly against both the Republic of Ireland and Portugal.

After such displays, Mason could now look to use Styles in the engine room as the season progresses, especially as he looks to modify his system for select encounters.

Football League World’s West Bromwich Albion fan pundit, Callum Burgess, believes that the Hungarian international is most definitely a central midfield option for the Baggies’ boss to consider.

West Bromwich Albion told to consider moving Callum Styles to midfield

“Since he arrived from Barnsley last season,” stated Callum. “I think Styles has done a much better job at full-back than the majority of us would have anticipated.

“There wasn’t much excitement around his arrival, but he's been very solid ever since he joined us. His performances for Hungary definitely give Mason something to think about.

“In some of the cases where we might be against tough opposition, it could be a case of Charlie Taylor coming in at full-back and then that could allow us to play Styles in midfield.

“We’d still have his work rate and his tackling, which I think is an impressive aspect of his game. That could definitely be something for Mason to consider.”

Ryan Mason will be cautious about making Callum Styles change

Styles has shown, whilst on intentional duty with Hungary, that he has what it takes to compete in midfield against world-class opposition such as Portugal, which signals that he would excel in such a role for West Brom.

The 25-year-old looked comfortable next to Szoboszlai, who starts regularly for the champions of England, so Mason could be understandably tempted into deploying Styles in the engine room immediately.

However, after a promising start to the 2025/26 campaign, the Baggies’ boss will also be cautious not to make any drastic changes to his system.

He has managed to get his squad playing in a competitive fashion and won’t want to risk undoing that hard work just to try and force Styles into midfield.

If results began to take a turn for the worse, it could force Mason into making further changes and slowly, the Albion manager would be edging further away from the winning formula he started the campaign with.