West Brom supporters should be buzzing with Carlos Corberan statement amid Southampton links: View | OneFootball

Corberan's commitment to the cause can only be a good thing for Albion, amid links to the Saints.

West Bromwich Albion suffered a disappointing late setback against Oxford United on Saturday afternoon, with Dane Scarlett rescuing a late draw for the latter at the Kassam Stadium.

After Karlan Grant had put the visitors 1-0 up in controversial circumstances, they would have been hoping to see the game through and secure the three points.

However, Oxford have been good at home this season and Albion have made a fairly good start to the campaign, so they can afford to drop points at this stage - as long as they are not being demoralised.

For a side that have gone winless in their last four league games, it's perhaps strange to say that they have done well during the early stages of the 2024/25 campaign.

But they won four of their opening five league games of the season and picked up 13 points from a possible 15 in the process, so there's still reasons to be optimistic from the standpoint of Albion fans.

Their results in the coming weeks will dictate whether they remain in the promotion mix, leading up to the Christmas period.

But there are plenty of reasons for them to be cheery, because they have great assets both on and off the pitch.

Josh Maja has made an exceptional start to the season, Tom Fellows is establishing himself as a key first-team figure, Grant has raised his game this season and owner Shilen Patel is proving to be a much more popular figure than his predecessor, Guochuan Lai.

But arguably, their most important figure is Carlos Corberan, and his recent comments were a massive boost for the Baggies.

Last month, it was reported that Premier League team Southampton had taken an interest in Corberan, with their current manager Russell Martin struggling back then.

Unfortunately for Martin, things haven't improved since then, even though it looked as though they were going to get their first win of the league season on the board on Saturday afternoon.

Having gone 2-0 up against Leicester City, they would have been keen to see the game out, but two goals in 10 minutes from Facundo Buonanotte and Jamie Vardy levelled the game, before Jordan Ayew scored a 98th-minute winner for the Foxes.

With this game being at St Mary's, yesterday was a golden opportunity for the Saints to get a win on the board, but they were unable to do so.

Considering the south-coast side have won just one point in their opening eight games and have been linked with Corberan, some Albion fans may be concerned about their manager potentially leaving.

But the Baggies' boss is committed to the cause, telling Birmingham Live earlier this week: "I can only tell you that making a career in this club will be one thing that would make me happy - to extend my career in this club.

"It would make me very, very happy."

Corberan succeeded Steve Bruce back in 2022 and was able to lift Albion from the bottom of the table into a more respectable position.

And in his second season, he was able to guide his team into the play-offs, even with off-field news regarding a potential takeover hitting the headlines at points.

Managing to squeeze the best out of his team, like he did at Huddersfield Town, there's no better candidate for the West Brom job at this point than Corberan.

The 41-year-old is still young and has time to make further improvements to his coaching because of that, which can only be a good thing for Albion.

His commitment to the cause may also help if other top-tier clubs take an interest in him in the future.

It only feels like a matter of time before there will be more interest in his signature, but the ex-Terrier seems to be very level-headed, and that should help him to continue focusing on his current job when speculation swirls in the future.