West Brom’s striker, Reyes Cleary, had been sidelined with an injury since April, but he’s now back in training with the first-team. This return comes at a time when West Brom is facing a shortage of attacking options. Cleary suffered a severe hamstring injury late last season and hasn’t seen any action since the current campaign started in August.
Even though he’s back in training with several academy prospects to assist in Carlos Corberan’s first-team sessions, Cleary, who boasts an impressive record of 52 goals in 61 youth-level appearances, will need more time to regain full fitness.
The prolific forward has made six senior appearances, including a couple of starts in the EFL Cup under Steve Bruce last season and some appearances in the Championship under interim manager Richard Beale. However, he’s been unavailable to West Brom since his impressive hat-trick in a 5-1 PL2 victory over Derby County in April.
Photographs on West Brom’s official website have confirmed that Cleary is now training with the rest of the team, alongside other young talents like Kevin Mfuamba and Reece Hall.
In September, Corberan discussed Cleary’s recovery and indicated that it would be a while before he could be considered for first-team duties. He explained that Cleary would need under-21 minutes to continue his rehabilitation and build up match fitness. Corberan also mentioned that they had initially planned to loan Cleary out for experience this season, but his injury prevented that. So, once he fully recovers, Cleary will join the under-21 team to further develop before being considered for the first team.