George Campbell

Campbell arrived from Major League Soccer with the versatility to cover several defensive positions, and that flexibility has become one of his most valuable traits at Championship level. He reads danger quickly enough to recover into position even when his starting spot was wrong. That lets a manager move him around the back line without the defence losing its shape. Pushed inside to centre back, he has offered more protection through the middle while still carrying the pace to cover a teammate in trouble.

What separates him from a purely defensive option is his willingness to arrive late into the penalty area for a set piece. That habit has already produced a dramatic goal when West Brom badly needed one. The bigger question is whether that athleticism settles into one permanent position, because a defender who can do several jobs sometimes ends up mastering none of them fully.