West Brom could face serious Celtic or Rangers transfer regret | OneFootball

The Baggies are bound to be regretting their sale of promising defender Michael Parker.

In a tough 2025-26 season, West Brom secured their Championship safety by the skin of their teeth.

Ryan Mason was appointed at the beginning of the campaign for his first full-time managerial role, but was sacked at the turn of 2026 after Albion had suffered a 10th straight away league defeat and were left 18th in the second tier standings.

Mason’s replacement was ex-Minnesota United boss Eric Ramsay, but the Welshman would go down as both West Brom’s worst performing and shortest staying permanent boss in the club’s history, finishing his 44-day and nine-game stay in charge of West Brom with a 0% win record, drawing four and losing five of his nine matches.

Thankfully, for the Baggies, interim boss James Morrison just about had enough time to galvanise the squad, as a 10-game unbeaten run under the Albion icon propelled the Baggies to Championship safety, even with the EFL's decision to deduct the Baggies two points for breaching P&S rules.

While many of Albion’s failures happened on the pitch, there is also bound to be some regret in the boardroom from player sales last season, with promising defender Nathan Parker departing The Hawthorns last February to move to Swedish top-flight outfit Orgryte IS on a permanent deal.

Ever since making the move to Sweden, Parker has flourished, and it’s seen the likes of Scottish giants Celtic and Rangers eye up a move for the 21-year-old this summer.

It’s a case of what could have been for the Baggies, who could well have pushed him into the first-team environment and been the beneficiaries that Orgryte have had right now.

Michael Parker’s West Brom spell and Orgryte IS impact

It would prove to be a really short stay at West Brom for defender Michael Parker, who originally linked up at The Hawthorns in September 2024.

He would go on to be a regular starter in Albion’s Premier League 2 setup, making 40 appearances across two seasons, while he also had two loan spells at National League North outfit Hereford.

Parker’s only involvement with the first-team came during two Championship matches in the 2024-25 campaign when he was named on the bench, but he was never able to make a competitive appearance in the blue and white stripes.

And in February 2026, the Baggies waved goodbye to Parker, who moved to Swedish outfit Orgryte IS on a permanent deal after impressing on a two-week trial.

But to Albion’s demise, the towering left-footed central defender has gone from strength-to-strength in Sweden, featuring in all of their opening 10 games of the Allsvenskan season, making eight starts and having some impressive stats to his name.

During his short spell in Sweden so far, Parker has been busy in the backline, making 37 clearances, 39 recoveries, as well as creating four chances and two big chances from central defence, as per FotMob.

As an aggressive defender who isn’t afraid to advance forward and be a threat at the top end of the pitch too, Parker has deservedly earned interest from many different European outfits during the early stages of the summer transfer window, with Orgryte IS potentially able to draw a big profit after plucking him from The Hawthorns.

As per Football Insider’s Pete O’Rourke, Scottish giants Celtic and Rangers are both weighing up making a move for the 21-year-old, while fellow journalist Sacha Tavolieri has claimed that Parker is well valued by Anderlecht’s scouting department, but the Belgian outfit will be rivalled by the likes of Udinese and Strasbourg.

Orgryte IS are believed to be demanding a fee of €2m, although the clubs linked at this moment in time are only prepared to pay €1.5m.

West Brom will hold serious regret over Michael Parker sale

It’s more transfer regret for West Brom, who will be bitterly disappointed to not be the beneficiaries of Michael Parker’s early success.

Of course, at the time, it would have felt like the right move, with Parker not showing any signs of breaking into the first-team picture and would have struggled to get ahead of the likes of Nat Phillips, George Campbell, Chris Mepham or Krystian Bielik in the pecking order.

With the Baggies stacked with options in the centre of defence, they wouldn’t have given a second thought to moving Parker on, but the club will know it’s made a bad decision now, with Parker likely to move to an established European club and take his career to the next level.

West Brom clearly didn’t have faith in Parker to excel at Championship level, electing instead to trust some of the older heads in the camp, although that was nearly a disastrous decision in itself as Albion battled to save their Championship skins.

If Albion had put a bit more trust in Parker to step up to the challenge of the second tier and thrive like he has done in Sweden, then it could have been a totally different story, but it’s a case of another player who got away from West Brom’s perspective.

Parker will now be looking to make headlines in the next chapter of his career, with all connected with West Brom looking on anxiously from behind the sofa.