Carlos Baleba has been told he can play his part in Albion ’s midfield changing of the guard.

The 20-year-old powerhouse played a full 90 minutes in the dramatic 1-1 draw at Arsenal the day after Billy Gilmour joined Napoli.

Mats Wieffer and Ferdi Kadioglu were ruled out and James Milner limped off inside 20 minutes, replaced by Yasin Ayari.

Baleba was the senior midfielder for most of Saturday’s contest and Albion boss Fabian Huerzeler said: “I have a lot of trust in him, like every player.

“We have a big squad, we have a lot of competition in the squad.

“Nobody can rest and he has to be there in every training, improve in every training.

“It’s our way to give chances to young players, to improve them.

“Young players can only improve by being on the pitch. For Carlos, it was a great experience and he had a good game.”

Huerzeler said injuries for Milner, Kadioglu and Wieffer were not serious but saw the irony of the timing as Gilmour went to Serie A.

He said: “Of course it looks a little unlucky.

“Billy had a big chance to go to a great club in Italy. Pascal Gross the same, he had a big opportunity to go to his club in Germany, to Dortmund.

“In the end we always have to accept the wishes and the needs of the players.

“It is always a decision we do together.

“Now at the moment it seems we don’t have enough players at No.6 with the loss of Mats and James.

“But let’s see the positive things. Let’s see how Yasin came into the team.

“Let’s see how Baleba performed.

“These are two young, high-potential players.”