West Brom face big transfer regret involving QPR, Chelsea agreement | OneFootball

Harvey Vale could have solved Albion's current lack of overall flair under Ryan Mason

West Bromwich Albion made plenty of shrewd acquisitions during Ryan Mason's first transfer window at The Hawthorns, but that hasn't exactly been proven in terms of consistent performance levels in the early weeks of the season.

The 34-year-old was poached from his position as Tottenham Hotspur assistant coach as the Baggies looked to head in a new direction following an extremely underwhelming end to last season as the club finished in ninth place - four points behind the Championship play-off places.

Regardless of a major squad overhaul in B71, which saw a plethora of experienced campaigners bid farewell to the West Midlands side and make way for new blood in the process, the early signs were rather positive that Mason was beginning to see a gradual improvement in terms of clinicalness in front of goal and overall chance creation, most notably in a 3-2 success over Wrexham on August 16th.

However, performances haven't continued to unfold in such a fashion for Albion since then, with Friday's 2-1 defeat to league leaders Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium perfectly showcasing that there must be an improvement from Mason's main creators and frontmen when it comes to their end product.

And, less than 24 hours later, a previous transfer target was on hand to show Baggies supporters what they could have had as he starred once again for a divisional rival.

Harvey Vale could have been a West Bromwich Albion player back in January

After progressing through Chelsea's infamous academy system, Harvey Vale's only prior tastes of senior football came through seven EFL Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Conference League appearances for the Blues, as well as loan spells with Hull City and Bristol Rovers.

The advanced midfielder played just 76 minutes of second-tier football for the Tigers before his loan spell was unsurprisingly cut short in January 2023 under Liam Rosenior amid fitness issues.

Regardless, his potential at this level was evident in January as an abundance of divisional rivals fought tooth-and-nail to prize him away from Stamford Bridge, with Albion one of those clubs alongside Sunderland, Oxford and Queens Park Rangers.

As well as having the ability to feature on either flank in an attacking sense, Vale also developed a reputation for having fairly strong defensive nous when required, filling in at left-back 12 times during the second of his aforementioned loan spells in League One with Bristol Rovers.

The 22-year-old's services would have, undoubtedly, been welcomed by Mowbray back in January as a result, as it would have freed up the likes of Callum Styles, who continues to feature in midfield for Hungary on international duty to an extremely impressive standard, yet is still utilised as a full-back for his club.

Whilst Albion would lose out to the West London side for his signature, not many supporters would have felt a sense of transfer regret as Vale sustained an immediate injury which ruled him out for the remainder of the campaign. However, the England youth international is doing exactly that under Julien Stephan in the early weeks of 2025/26.

Harvey Vale has been impressive for Queens Park Rangers so far this season

Unsurprisingly, the Haywards Heath-born man would have felt like a 'new signing' at the beginning of the season, having not had the chance to showcase his talent to the masses at Loftus Road.

It is fair to say that, even in a limited sample size of starting appearances and substitute cameos, Vale has done exactly that whilst being a key asset for Stephan, having already featured in an array of positions.

After posting an assist from full-back in the EFL Cup defeat to Plymouth Argyle, his first league assist came from the 'number 10' role as he set up Paul Smyth's opener in the 3-1 win against Charlton Athletic at the end of August, before going one better against Stoke City on Saturday.

Featuring on the right side of midfield, Vale netted the only goal of a tight contest with a stunning curling effort which flew past Viktor Johansson into the top corner, as well as proving a handful all afternoon for a usually tight-knight and resolute Potters backline.

His quality in front of goal has aided a strong response to Rangers' 7-1 battering at Coventry City last month, with the Rs netting seven goals in the following three games, averaging 1.6 goals per game so far this season.

Meanwhile, Albion have averaged just 1 goal across the opening six encounters, and although Aune Heggebo got off the mark on Friday night, the Norwegian hasn't had the greatest of service thus far, whilst many of Mason's attacking options - besides the impressive Isaac Price - aren't delivering consistent performances at present, which needs to be addressed moving forward.