Jeremy Sarmiento arrived on loan at West Brom from Brighton and Hove Albion in the summer amid plenty of fanfare.
The Seagulls are arguably the best team in the country right now in identifying stars of the future, with Sarmiento tipped to be one of them.
But eight games into the Championship campaign and the midfielder has started just once, his other seven appearances coming off the substitutes’ bench.
That solitary start came in a goalless draw against Millwall last weekend in which the 21-year-old played 77 minutes before being replaced.
Sarmiento had some bright moments, but the negatives arguably outweighed the positives.
Indeed, as per WhoScored, he had double the number of unsuccessful touches than any other player on the field (six).
The Ecuador international did not provide any of Albion’s nine key passes, while his 73.9% passing accuracy was the worst of any home starter.
When asked earlier in the month why Sarmiento was not starting games, Carlos Corberan explained he “still has problems managing minutes”.
“After making an important action, he needed a lot of time to make the second one,” Corberan said [Express & Star, 11 September].
Rather damningly, Corberan added that “in football, you need top players in the first XI and top players from the bench”.
Sarmiento will certainly hope to be more than a back-up player as the season goes on, yet that may well be the case.
The young Ecuadorian will no doubt have more chances in the coming weeks to nail down a regular starting spot in the side.
But if he is to achieve that, he needs to ensure those “problems” that Corberan has talked about are resolved.
On the basis of the Millwall draw, that may not be the case.