West Brom have a lot of work to do - Corberan

Kyle Bartley and Jed Wallace both captained Albion during the 2023-24 season

West Bromwich Albion head coach Carlos Corberan has warned that there is a lot of work to be done to get the Baggies into decent shape for next season, following their defeat in the Championship play-offs.

In their first season following the end of their Premier League parachute payments, and having finally gone through the trauma of a long-drawn-out takeover, Corberan over-achieved by leading Albion to fifth in the table.

They then got shown up by Southampton over two legs in the play-off semi-finals but Corberan's obvious need for a summer overhaul if Albion are to be a Championship force next season will be determined by whether he is allowed to invest in his squad.

Albion have nine players whose contracts expire next month - midfielders Matt Phillips, Alex Mowatt, Nathaniel Chalobah, Yann M’Vila and Adam Reach and defenders Cedric Kipre, Erik Pieters, Martin Kelly and Pipa.

“We know there is a lot that we need do during this summer," Corberan told BBC Radio WM.

"In terms of the number of players that are going to be out of contract and for the things that we need to grow and the things that we need to create."

Albion recorded an £11m loss for the 2022-23 campaign - the final full season under the ownership of Guochuan Lai.

But the annual report estimates that the club is still losing a seven-figure sum on a monthly basis.

"It will be now according to the financial possibilities and financial restrictions that every team has," Corberan said.

"Sometimes the future of the clubs depend about the past of the clubs too but from tomorrow we will start to work on this.”

Despite the February takeover by Florida businessmen Shilen Patel, and his father Dr Kiran C Patel, and the air of positivity that brought back to The Hawthorns, next year’s financial losses are expected to be even bigger.

Albion will also not be the only club working under the new EFL rules governing how much clubs are allowed to spend.

But Corberan has worked miracles on little money with since arriving in October 2022 and he and head of football operations Ian Pearce now face a few weeks of intensive plotting.

'Finishing fifth a great achievement'

Analysis from Steve Hermon, West Bromwich Albion commentator for BBC Radio WM.

It’s never a nice feeling being on the end of a defeat in a play-off semi-final. But most Albion fans are realistic enough to know that Southampton were the better team on the night.

More importantly, in terms of the bigger picture, finishing fifth was a great achievement in itself given the state of the club at the start of the season.

Reclusive owner Guochan Lai was still in place and there was a very real possibility that the Baggies could face financial ruin but they end it with American businessman Shilen Patel in place.

In an exclusive interview with BBC Radio WM in March just after taking over, Patel said they were planning for all eventualities - including remaining in the Championship.

From Patel's comments back then, and those of head coach Carlos Corberan at St Mary’s, there is no bottomless pot of money.

An £11 million annual loss was announced in the most recent financial figures and we already know the next set of books will be more severe.

That means a bit of a summer overhaul, as ageing players on decent money move on, while Albion fans wait nervously to see if player-of-the-season Cedric Kipre and midfielder Alex Mowatt can be tempted into new deals.

But there should be plenty of positivity heading into next season that Corberan can achieve something special.