Callum Styles Takes on Leadership Role at West Bromwich Albion

Callum Styles admits he has had to grow up quickly at West Bromwich Albion.

A summer of change at The Hawthorns has stripped out a chunk of the club’s experience and flooded the dressing room with youth. Seven of the new arrivals are 23 or under. Several thirty-somethings have gone. So have Karlan Grant, Kristian Bielik and Josh Maja, all still in their 20s.

Suddenly, at 26, the left-back 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,” Styles told BBC Radio WM, outlining how the dynamic inside the squad has shifted.

The departures have left a core group who know the division and know the club. Styles says those players feel a responsibility to set the tone for the new faces, many of whom are learning the demands of the Championship for the first time.

“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,” he explained.

That means more than just talking. It means example.

“We’ve got to show that through us working hard ourselves and then obviously helping them off the pitch,” Styles added, underlining that leadership now stretches from the training ground to the dressing room and beyond.

At a club tilting deliberately towards youth, his voice now carries extra weight.