West Brom players report early for training camp
A host of Albion players have spent time at a training camp in Portugal in a bid to boost their fitness ahead of the new campaign.
Every member of the Baggies squad is due to fly out to Portimao, in Portugal, for a warm weather training camp on Sunday.
But Kyle Bartley, Kean Bryan, Daryl Dike, Josh Griffiths, Taylor Gardner-Hickman, Alex Mowatt, Conor Townsend and Kenneth Zohore have already spent time in the country this summer as they work to improve their fitness and impress manager Steve Bruce.
Bartley, Bryan, Dike, Griffiths, Mowatt and Zohore all ended last season injured.
It is not yet known exactly what stage they are all at with their recoveries.
But it is expected the majority will be fit for the start of the new season – including Dike who fans have high hopes for following his £7million arrival from Orlando.
The camp in Portugal also allowed Bruce to run the rule over Bryan, Griffiths and Zohore who he didn't see play last season.
Zohore has struggled to make an impact at The Hawthorns since arriving in a deal worth a potential £8million back in 2019.
And a series of niggling injuries ensured he wasn’t available for selection under Bruce last year.
Neither was Bryan after he picked up an anterior cruciate ligament injury in only his third appearance for the club.
Griffiths, meanwhile, had been on loan at Lincoln prior to getting injured.
All Albion’s players will now report for the first day of pre-season at the club’s Walsall training base this Thursday.
The squad will spend the next few days undergoing fitness tests.
They will then fly out to Portugal for to Portimao for a 10-day warm-weather training camp on Sunday.
The trip will include a behind-closed-doors friendly against Leyton Orient which will take place on Monday, July 4.
Bruce’s men will then return to the UK to continue their build-up to the new season with friendlies against Stevenage, Northampton, Crewe Alexandra and Oxford.
