Callum Styles Takes on Leadership Role at West Brom

At 26, Callum Styles is hardly an old pro. At West Bromwich Albion this season, he suddenly feels like one.

A summer of change at The Hawthorns has stripped away much of the side’s established core and injected a wave of youth. Seven new arrivals are 23 or younger. Several players over 30 have moved on, joined by Karlan Grant, Kristian Bielik and Josh Maja, all still in their twenties but part of the previous spine.

In that reshaped dressing room, Styles now finds himself among the older heads.

“I think that's natural [to step into leadership] when you've played a lot of games in the Championship and you're getting older season by season,” the left-back told BBC Radio WM. The years of second-tier experience, the grind of long campaigns and tight turnarounds, now carry a different weight.

He isn’t alone. A core group who were at the club last season have felt the shift and the responsibility that comes with it.

“Quite a few of us that were here last year feel like it's our role to then get the new lads adjusted to the league, to the team and to the physicality as quickly as possible,” Styles said.

That adaptation can define a season. The Championship punishes slow starters and naïve sides. Styles knows the message has to be lived, not just spoken.

“We've got to show that through us working hard ourselves and then obviously helping them off the pitch,” he added.

The challenge for West Brom now is clear: blend raw energy with the know-how of players like Styles, and turn a younger squad into one hardened enough to last the distance.