Although still reeling from a mass exodus of top players this summer, West Bromwich Albion comfortable opening day win in the Championship, overcoming Marti Cifuentes' Queens Park Rangers on their own patch 3-1, was perhaps a tad surprising.
Josh Maja was the star of the show at Loftus Road, scoring a hat-trick after being gifted the starting spot up top by Carlos Corberan, and showed to the overjoyed West Brom masses in West London that losing Brandon Thomas-Asante doesn't have to be the end of the world.
Away from Maja, Tom Fellows also shone brightly against the Hoops, as the West Brom youth product aims to reach even higher heights than he managed last campaign when he broke into the first team and never looked back.
Fellows' time at West Brom
Fellows constantly terrorised the QPR defence last weekend to ensure West Brom comfortably picked up all three points ahead of their clash with Leeds yesterday.
It was Maja's second of the day that was all the 21-year-old's making, however, supplying the chance for his teammate to put away.
Moreover, the tenacious winger was brave and alert with five duels won in total, to give his side the energy they needed to push on to pick up the win.
His aim will just be to keep performing at this high level and strive to become an even more concrete part of Corberan's first-team plans going forward, having had his breakout moment in the spotlight last campaign.
Fellows would finish his promising 2023/24 season with five goals and four assists next to his name from 38 games in all competitions, having previously just starred at youth level for his boyhood employers, before finally going on to make the grade in the senior mix.
As a result, his transfer value for the West Midlands club has also risen, with his current price tag higher than that of Thomas-Asante's – according to Football Transfers – even with the former Baggies man recently winning himself a move to divisional rivals Coventry City.
Fellows' transfer value at West Brom
The standout Baggies prodigy is now worth in the region of £2.4m, with Thomas-Asante having been sold to the Sky Blues this summer for around £2m.
It's been quite the sharp rise for Fellows, who was once just a wide-eyed youngster shipped out on loan to League Two with Crawley Town, but there were signs he would eventually spark into life and become a top Championship performer in the fourth tier, with former Crawley coach Darren Byfield labelling him as "unbelievable" when the pair had previously worked together.
2024
£2.4m
2023
£429k
2022
£429k
Only two years ago, before his rise to stardom in the first-team mix, Fellows was worth just £429k, and his value could soar way above £2.4m if he continues to be a star for West Brom this season, on the way to another promotion charge taking shape.
Whilst the youngster's value continues to go up and up, West Brom might have cashed in on Thomas-Asante at the perfect possible time, with his price-tag standing at a far higher £2.9m in March of this year, before tumbling down to a lesser £2.1m.
The Baggies will continue to look for their next main man up top to complement Fellows' creativity, with Maja undoubtedly benefiting at this point in time, in the wake of Thomas-Asante leaving.
Whoever is chosen to be Corberan's next leading man going forward will love playing alongside Fellows you imagine, who will want to be a key player for his boyhood club moving forward after dazzling against QPR, as promotion is eyed up as the main objective once more.
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