Albion head coach Roberto De Zerbi announced on Wednesday that wingers Kaoru Mitoma and Simon Adingra would be out for at least a month with respective ankle and hamstring injuries.
With the Seagulls also without forwards Ansu Fati and Julio Enciso, winger Solly March, and defenders Joel Veltman, Tariq Lamptey, and Adam Webster, De Zerbi may have to call on academy players again.
Versatile forwards Joao Pedro and Facundo Buonanotte could be wing options for the Italian but outside of them, the 44-year-old may look to under-21 wingers Benicio Baker-Boaitey, 19, and Josh Duffus, 18.
So, with this injury load, will Sarmiento return to the Amex in January? Going by De Zerbi’s comments this summer, perhaps not. The 21-year-old wasn’t included in Brighton’s squad for their United States of America tour, with the head coach wanting the Ecuadorian international to get a regular run of games in 2023/24.
Before his Baggies loan move, De Zerbi said in July: “Sarmiento can leave on loan and we decided together, me and Jeremy, for him to stay in Brighton [while we’re in the USA], to wait for the best solution for him. For us, after the last injury last season, I think he needs to play 30, 35 games in a row.”
So far, Sarmiento has played 20 games for West Brom in all competitions, scoring two goals – but just seven of those have been starts. If the young winger is able to rack up the appearances in the second half of the season, he may come back a better player and that may be preferable to him rather than acting as injury cover for a few weeks and then being on the fringes once more.
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