West Bromwich Albion supporters may have been left surprised by the news on Monday that Lewis Dobbin is set to sign for Southampton for an initial fee of £9m.

The English forward spent the first half of the 2024/25 campaign on loan at The Hawthorns and failed to provide a single goal or assist in 17 appearances in the Championship.

Despite initially joining on a season-long loan, he returned to Aston Villa in the January transfer window before joining Norwich City on loan, then spent last term on loan at Preston North End.

The 23-year-old attacker scored ten goals and provided eight assists at Deepdale in the Championship in the 2025/26 campaign, which has seemingly earned him a £9m transfer to St. Mary's.

Why Lewis Dobbin struggled at West Brom

Dobbin did not show the consistent quality at West Brom that he did at Preston because he was not put in a position to succeed by the Baggies.

The Englishman only started one of his 17 appearances in the second tier for the club, averaging only 19 minutes per game, which meant that he did not get many opportunities to show what he was truly capable of.

Considering that Dobbin immediately went to Norwich and scored two goals in eight starts for the Canaries in the second half of the campaign, it seems that West Brom were the problem, rather than the player.

If the Baggies had given him the chance to nail down a regular run of games in his favoured position, they may have seen the kind of quality that he displayed on a regular basis with Preston, scoring ten goals from 9.15 xG.

Last season, none of West Brom's natural wide players scored more than two goals in the Championship, as Mikey Johnston and Jed Wallace both netted twice.

That may be why the club are in the race, along with the likes of West Ham United, Leicester City, and Derby County, to sign Brighton & Hove Albion winger Tommy Watson.

West Brom already have their own Lewis Dobbin

James Morrison may be able to forget about a swoop for the Seagulls youngster, though, as he already has his own version of Dobbin brewing at The Hawthorns.

Instead of developing Brighton's talent for them in the 2026/27 campaign, West Brom could look to Ollie Bostock to have a breakthrough season at senior level.

The Wales U21 international has shown promise at youth level and in his limited first-team minutes, and could emerge as the club's own Dobbin, righting the wrongs of not giving the £9m-rated star enough of an opportunity.

Bostock needs minutes and experience to develop and fulfill his potential, as Dobbin did with Norwich and Preston, and Morrison should provide him with the platform that he needs next season.

The teenage talent played at the U19 Euros for Wales recently and created four chances in three games for his teammates, as they were knocked out in the group stage.

Bostock also showed promise in the first-team for the Baggies last term, scoring one goal and providing one assist in nine appearances, despite only starting four of those games.

Like Dobbin, the 19-year-old star is predominantly a left-sided attacker who likes to cut in on his right foot, but he is also capable of playing as an attacking midfielder or on the right of the forward line, offering Morrison versatility across the attack.

This means that he could be utilised on the left or right in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 for the Baggies, or in the number ten position in a 4-2-3-1 system, as may be the case for Dobbin once his move to Southampton goes through.

Bostock, of course, is unproven at first-team level, given his lack of experience, but he did score eight goals in 51 matches for West Brom at U18 and U21 level combined, which shows that the potential is there for him to offer a goal threat.

The fact that he has already registered a goal and an assist for the first-team in limited minutes is another sign that he has the potential to step up and deliver quality in the final third from a wide position.

So, instead of signing Watson on loan from Brighton, Morrison should give Bostock the minutes that were once not offered to Dobbin, in an attempt to create his own homegrown version of the £9m forward.