Dan Watts, who runs the @Baggies_Facts Twitter account, joined host Kevin DeVries on the latest edition of the EPL Round Table podcast to discuss all things West Bromwich Albion. The pair spent some time talking about Dara O’Shea during the show.
The 21-year-old defender, who joined the Baggies’ academy back in 2015 from Dublin-based club St. Kevin’s Boys, was highlighted by Watts as a player to look out for next season.
O’Shea made his senior debut for West Brom last August in an EFL Cup clash with Millwall. He subsequently made his first Championship appearance for the side in December and ended the 2019/20 campaign with 21 Baggies appearances to his name, 17 of which came in England’s second tier as he helped Albion to earn promotion to the Premier League.
As per WhoScored, O’Shea delivered plenty of positive performances in his first season playing for the Baggies’ senior squad, as he earned an impressive overall rating of 7.26/10 in the Championship, ranking the defender as the Baggies’ second-highest-rated player in the league, behind only Matheus Pereira.
With that in mind, it mightn’t be too surprising that Watts was full of praise for the 21-year-old during his recent appearance on the EPL Round Table podcast.
He said: “Dara O’Shea – that’s probably a name that not many will have heard of unless you follow the Championship.
“He’s a fantastic, young, Irish centre-half and right-back and he slotted in at the right-back slot for us towards the end of the season fantastically, scoring a couple of really important goals and just playing a really solid defensive game, as well as helping when getting forward.
“For his age, he just didn’t panic at all in any of the situations that he faced, so he’s another player to maybe look out for.”
Do you think that O'Shea is good enough for the Premier League?
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While he delivered some impressive performances last season, it may be understandable why Watts believes that O’Shea will be something of an unknown to many fans of Premier League teams, considering that he is yet to make an appearance in England’s top flight.
Hopefully, for O’Shea and the Baggies, the Irish right-back can carry his impressive form from last season into the 2020/21 campaign. If he can adjust to life in the Premier League, then we feel he could play an important role for Slaven Bilic’s side, given his positive performances last term.