Who is Isaac Price? The man set to become Tony Mowbray's first signing at West Brom | OneFootball

FLW outline all you need to know about West Brom's latest addition, Isaac Price.

It was reported over the weekend that both West Bromwich Albion and Preston North End are keen on signing Isaac Price after it was stated that he is set to depart Standard Liege.

The pair of Championship clubs are known to be long-term admirers of the Northern Irish international, with West Brom said to be leading Preston in the race to sign him in the summer, according to a report from journalist Sacha Tavolieri.

Nothing materialised at the time, but the same journalist then stated over the weekend that he is a step closer to moving to the second tier in a deal worth around €2 million - €2.5 million. He then announced a final agreement had been found, with West Brom winning the race for a fee of closer to €3 million and a sell-on clause.

That's after Het Nieuwsblad reported that Price is set to move to West Brom set to travel to England on Monday to complete his medical. He is believed to have been in England to complete the final stages of his switch to the Championship club.

It will make him the first signing of the January transfer window and first under new head coach Tony Mowbray, who returned to the club on Friday. But just who is West Brom's shiny new Northern Irish midfielder? We take a look, here.

Isaac Price's background and profile

Born in Pontefract in West Yorkshire, West Brom-bound Price started his career on these shores. Price was raised in Normanton, nearby Wakefield. His paternal grandmother was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, while he also has ancestry from the Republic of Ireland and Germany as well.

Having come through the youth ranks with Everton, Price made a handful of appearances for the Premier League club, before moving to Standard Liege in the summer of 2023. Price joined the academy at the age of just seven, he rapidly rose through the ranks under the mentoring of Leighton Baines. Price made speedy progress between U-18 and U-23 sides in the 2020/21 season, being accelerated to the first-team squad.

In September 2020, he signed his first professional contract with the club, which was for three years. After stepping up to the first-team squad, he impressed former manager Carlo Ancelotti, making the senior bench for the first time away away to Brighton in April amidst a massive injury crisis. However, his progress was temporarily stalled at the end of the 2020/21 season when he missed the final weeks of the campaign with a stress fracture of the hip.

He returned to start the new season in 2021/22 as a regular in David Unsworth's U-23 team. In March 2022, he made his full professional debut as an 89th-minute substitute in the 2-0 FA Cup victory over Boreham Wood. In May, he made his Premier League debut as a 78th-minute replacement for Tom Davies in a 5-1 loss to Arsenal on the final day of the season.

Since Unsworth's departure, Price became a mainstay of Paul Tait's Everton U-21 team and appeared to be even more involved in the senior side when Frank Lampard named him among the first-team substitutes in Everton's two League Cup games, followed by two Premier League games toward the end of Lampard's stint as Everton manager.

However, with his contract up in the summer of 2023 and having recently made his international debut for Northern Ireland, Price made his desires clear in turning down all offers from the club for him to accept a new contract, with a determination to get more playing time at a vital stage of his development by signing up with Standard Liege.

In June, he signed a four-year deal. He may not have gone the conventional route of many young British players but he has reaped the rewards since his switch. He scored his first club goal in October 2023, with a last-minute winner in a 2-1 home victory against Club Brugge KV. The midfielder was then a regular for his new club last season as they finished 12th in Belgium's top-flight, and his form has already seen him win 18 senior caps for Northern Ireland.

Price was eligible to play internationally for England, Germany or the Republic of Ireland, and was tracked by England before opting for Northern Ireland in the end. In October 2024, Price scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 victory over Bulgaria in the UEFA Nations League. In doing so, he became the first Northern Irish player to score at least two goals in a match at Windsor Park since Kyle Lafferty back in 2016.

Price is one of a number of young players who have benefited from a crippling injury list for Michael O'Neill. He will now continue his development for club and country closer to home and in the EFL with West Brom, where a number of the national team currently reside.

Isaac Price closes in on West Brom switch

Price is a midfielder capable of operating as an attacking, central, or defensive midfielder. He has been with Standard Liege for over a year after being allowed to join them on a free transfer. Price was a regular for last season, playing 39 times across all competitions, which included 25 starts in the league.

This year has been much the same for Price, playing in every available game so far for the Belgian giants. Price has featured from the start in 20 of their 23 fixtures this term, operating predominantly as a central midfielder but occasionally as a wing-back.

Price does still have two-and-a-half years remaining on his contract with the Belgian side, securing his future with Standard Liege until the end of the 2026/27 season. Given the player has a contract until 2027, they hold a strong negotiating position, but €3 million and a sell-on clause is good business from the Belgian side.

Albion's options in the central midfield role this term are Alex Mowatt, Jayson Molumby, Ousmane Diakite, and loanee Uros Racic. Price may be the most versatile of all, though. At 21-years-old, there is still plenty of development to come for ex-Everton man Price, and his pedigree and top-flight experience suggests he could do a job in the second tier.

With a full season of top-flight football in Belgium under his belt, Price is a signing that should excite West Brom fans, and he could go onto become a mainstay at The Hawthorns in the years to come. For that sort of fee, it is a low-cost and low-risk move by West Brom.

Price could be a seriously smart addition for the Baggies, and one that could make the club money in the future should he impress and develop further, becoming an asset as a player on the pitch and financially off it as well. Mowbray is also renowned for his development of younger players as well, so this should be a good fit and match for club, player, and manager.