Alex Mowatt was West Brom captain for their Carabao Cup tie at Rotherham last weekend [Getty Images] For the second summer in a row, the Baggies have left it late to sell an experienced player who wore the captain's armband in their first match of the season. Twelve months ago, Darnell Furlong was skipper as Albion opened the Championship campaign by beating Blackburn. Two games later, then-boss Ryan Mason was blindsided by the sale of the full-back to Ipswich just four days before transfer deadline day. Now, Alex Mowatt has walked out of the same door less than a week after leading the team out for a 4-1 win over Rotherham in the first round of the Carabao Cup. It is not known if head coach James Morrison knew a bid was coming, but Derby's admiration of the 31-year-old has been longstanding. There is a fair argument that both deals made sense for Albion. They are ageing players on decent wages. Furlong's sale gave them much-needed money at a perilous time financially, while although officially undisclosed, Mowatt's move was believed to be worth around £650,000 and avoids the prospect of him leaving for nothing in the summer. However, as with Furlong, the Yorkshireman's departure leaves big boots to fill with not much time to fill them. Alfie Gilchrist was billed as the right-back replacement when he arrived from Chelsea a day after Furlong was sold, but it was centre-half George Campbell who was deployed there for the rest of Mason's reign. As for Gilchrist, he was loaned to Leyton Orient this week, with his agent pointing out on social media that it was a "great opportunity" for the 22-year-old to "play regular football in his natural position at centre-back". The club are better stocked to cope in the midfield department in terms of numbers, but Mowatt played a vital role, pulling the strings at the heart of the team. Under Carlos Corberan, he was often the player who touched the ball more than any other, and all the head coaches that followed leant on him for inspiration. He's racked up almost 500 career appearances in the second tier, so that's a huge amount of experience gone from a squad containing several players poised to make their Championship debuts. Perhaps Albion are confident they already have the solution in their squad? Irishman Jayson Molumby, who's been the subject of some speculation over his own future recently, played more games in central midfield alongside Ousmane Diakite than Mowatt during the 10-game unbeaten run that kept them in the division at the tail end of last season. Academy product Harry Whitwell has blossomed in pre-season, albeit further up the field. Left-back Callum Styles could replicate the midfield role he plays for his national team, Hungary, and Felix Horn Myhre may be another viable option. A Norwegian journalist told me that "everything" went through him at SK Brann, and he was their "most important player". It would be an unenviable task for box-to-box Frenchman Rabby Nzingoula. He's 20 years old and only arrived in England a few days ago. We won't have to wait long to find out who steps up to the plate as The Throstles open their league season at Norwich on Saturday.
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