"We don't have to make wrong decisions anymore" – West Brom's Bilkul influence in Tom Fellows hunt

The Baggies' starlet Tom Fellows, who only turned 21 in the summer, attracted Premier League interest this week as the club rejected out of hand a £10million approach from Southampton.

Winger Fellows, a graduate of the club's academy, burst on to the scene last season and has become the club's top asset, with a long-term deal running until 2027.

That did not stop top-flight clubs testing the water on Albion's resolve. Albion see Fellows' valuation as significantly higher than the offer made by the Saints. Ipswich were also credited with interest this week but the Express & Star understands no offer came from Portman Road.

Corberan, speaking at his pre-Swansea press conference on Friday morning, stressed that the club's business-sound American owners – whose £60million investment including debts to purchase the club was concluded in February – do not intend for Albion to be taken advantage of from a financial perspective, as had to be the case previously with zero investment under predecessor Guochuan Lai.

"It doesn’t surprise me that interest can appear for players," Corberan said of this week's reports. "I am a little bit far from things (speculation). I know Tom is an academy player, an important player for us making good things and still he has to grow.

"We are very happy to have him in the squad. Sometimes probably in the past this club when I was here we didn’t have the possibility to say no to things that were not the right things.

"Probably in the past when you are in a more emergency financial situation you need to make wrong decisions that are the right decision for the moment.

"Right now this club doesn’t have to make wrong decisions because we are not in this emergency financial situation. It allows you to make the right decisions in terms of the player that you bring or in the players that depart from the club."

Formerly Crawley loan man Fellows kicked off the new Championship, his first as a regular in the side, in stunning fashion with three assists in the first three games to lead the second tier stakes in that department. He made his first start on New Year's Day at Saturday's opponents Swansea.

The winger had the likes of Everton and Newcastle monitoring his progress at the beginning of 2024, when a new long-term deal was concluded – one of the most significant pieces of business from the club in some years.

The England under-20 international is expected to remain around the England age group reckoning. Lee Carsley, previously under-21s boss and now in interim senior command, has watched the south Birmingham-born winger in action.

The Baggies face Swansea at The Hawthorns on Saturday having won twice and drawn from three league games so far this term. The first international break of the season follows. Albion are set to conclude the £3million signing of Mikey Johnston on deadline day, their 10th and final addition of the summer.