West Brom-linked Barney Stewart’s rapid 18-month climb from university football to award winner | OneFootball

Barney Stewart has packed a breakthrough and award-winning form into 18 months, rising from university football to Falkirk’s first team.

According to ExpressAndStar.com, West Brom are among the clubs tracking the 22-year-old after an 18-goal campaign across Falkirk and Dunfermline.

He debuted for Falkirk in the Scottish Championship in January last year, featured sparingly in their 2025 promotion, then broke a metatarsal before a loan to Dunfermline brought eight goals in 12 second-tier games.

Scotland under-21 cameos against Gibraltar and Bulgaria in November preceded a first professional hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Hibernian in January, then a brace in a 5-1 victory at Kilmarnock, plus goals versus Aberdeen, St Mirren and Motherwell.

He finished with 10 goals and two assists in 21 Falkirk appearances, earning the Scottish Football Writers’ Young Player of the Season award.

London-born, he played multiple sports and spent two years with Queens Park Rangers before moving to Scotland at 16 to study Sport and Exercise Science at Heriot-Watt University, where he scored 85 goals in East of Scotland and BUCS leagues.

Falkirk handed him a new deal in January to 2028, including an option year, and further under-21 caps against Czech Republic and Portugal followed in March.

Source: ExpressAndStar.com