After a solid breakout season in 2023/2024, West Bromwich Albion winger Tom Fellows has truly gone from strength to strength.
The 1.83-meter-tall, right-footed winger has firmly established himself as a key performer for the EFL Championship outfit.
He has thrived despite the club’s disappointing season, managing four goals and 14 assists in a side that struggled elsewhere for goals.
No Championship player was able to break this assist total, emphasising the quality of his creative output.
As the 21-year-old continues to flourish, suitors are circling.
Everton, in particular, have been reportedly pursuing Fellows’ signature.
In this player analysis, we will examine his profile as a player, his role in the current side, and whether he is ready for Premier League football in the 2025/2026 season.
Who Is Tom Fellows?
Tom Fellows came through the West Brom Academy and debuted as a teenager in the 2021/2022 season.
Despite his promise, it wasn’t until the following season, during a loan spell at EFL League Two side Crawley Town, that he truly showed his quality.
Although he only contributed two assists, Fellows’ attacking ability made him a stalwart for the side, and he made 40 appearances at just 19 years of age.
Upon his return, manager Carlos Corberán believed in the youngster.
Then, 35 Championship appearances followed, and ever since, his place as a starter has been cemented.
He is now an England Under-21 international, making his debut in 2024.
Fellows is known for his direct attacking quality and his ability to create from nothing.
He is a relatively tall build for a winger, but he uses this to his advantage.
He is fast and strong, whilst remaining agile.
This allows him to glide with the ball and is extremely effective at breaking away from opposition defenders.
This physicality is also matched by technical excellence.
With both feet, Fellows can execute precision crosses and through balls.
Tom Fellows Role At West Brom
Since Fellows became a starter for West Brom, they have had two permanent managers and two interims.
The majority of his time has come under Carlos Corberán style of play, who used Fellows as an out-and-out winger.
As seen below, Fellows typically stays close to the right-sided touchline when playing this winger role.
This role tends to provide Fellows with a lot more space than if he was dragged inside.
As a result, he is given more areas to run into and more time to deliver crosses.
Tom Fellows Crossing Ability
Tom Fellows’ biggest attribute is, by far, his ability to forge opportunities for his teammates.
In this season’s Championship, Fellows averages 0.44 assists per 90 minutes played and 1.94 key passes per 90 minutes played—relatively high numbers when compared with positional peers playing at his level.
Furthermore, in his West Brom squad, he ranks first for chances created.
He created 62 this season, 48 of which were from open play.
A huge part of his chance creation is down to his crossing ability.
His side’s system requires him to stay wide, creating regular opportunities to cross.
Tom Fellows Chances Created Map
Fellows has completed 40 crosses this season, from 128 attempts.
This means that 31% are successful, a very impressive figure.
Unlike many modern wingers, Fellows is pinpoint in his crosses.
He strives for accuracy and intent towards a single player, an approach that has been very successful so far.
In the scenario above, many would opt to fire the ball across goal.
Instead, Fellows takes one look up and carefully picks out his man, recognising the need to play the ball in front of him into his path.
This option takes both high skill but also good game intelligence and spatial awareness to pull off.
Tom Fellows Ball Carrying
Another aspect of Fellows’ game that could translate well into the Premier League is his effective ball-carrying.
Due to his exceptional physicality and ball control, Fellows is very difficult to recover possession from.
When he has space in front of him to attack, he is very willing, and as a result, progresses the ball well.
He is particularly impactful when carrying down the channels, but he also has the versatility to cut inside.
He averages 4.89 progressive carries per game, and more importantly, 2.04 carries into the penalty area.
This is a hugely underrated skill for attacking players.
Being an effective carrier helps a team progress up the pitch, turning defence into attack individually.
It also means that Fellows does not necessarily need to receive the ball in the final third to be problematic for the opposition.
Fellows is a good carrier into space and brilliant in close areas.
He is highly effective at using his footwork and body positioning to gain a yard on his marker, allowing him to put in a cross or a shot unchallenged.
He regularly steps over to commit the defender, then uses his other foot to knock it past and execute his action.
Fellows range of strengths are visualised brilliantly in the spell below.
Fellows takes a relatively non-threatening, isolated scenario and turns it into an excellent solo goal.
The combination of his dribbling and crossing brilliance makes him so impactful and the top creator of the 2024/2025 EFL Championship Season.
Tom Fellows Strength With Both Feet
One of Fellows’ secret weapons is his aptitude with both feet.
Fellows can manoeuvre the ball to a good level on either side, much like a lower-level Ousmane Dembele, whether dribbling, shooting or crossing.
This makes him very unpredictable and creates issues for defenders, as even blocking his weak foot is ineffective.
Tom Fellows Finishing
In modern football, goals from the winger are almost a necessity.
Mohamed Salah and Bryan Mbuemo are shining examples of this in the Premier League this year.
So far, Fellows has not delivered enough on this front.
Nonetheless, the numbers and the eye test both suggest he is capable of offering much more.
This season, Fellows has scored four non-penalty goals out of 4.94 expected non-penalty goals.
This is a small underperformance, but it essentially suggests that he is scoring just under the number of goals that he should be based on the chances he receives.
When looking deeper, the statistics show he takes a lot of shots, but each one has an average xG of 0.1.
No player from the division’s top ten goalscorers has an xG per shot this low.
Tom Fellows xG Map
In the image above, the wider circles represent bigger goalscoring opportunities.
This visibly shows that he is not yet clinical in the six-yard box but highlights that the majority of his shots are low-percentage chances.
This could be partially due to the system, which keeps Fellows wide and outside of the inside shooting channels.
As he plays as a complete winger rather than the inside forward, he is very rarely given the freedom to operate off the striker.
Despite all of this, I believe that this part of his game will improve dramatically.
Interim coach James Morrison gave Fellows much more of this freedom in the season finale.
Consequently, he went on to deliver two key goals, as seen below.
His technique and composure in the final third are clearly not the issue.
If a Premier League manager were to ask him to step up in this aspect, it would unlikely be an issue.
Tom Fellows Areas For Improvement
Firstly, Fellows’ defensive contributions must improve.
In a now data-driven sport, figures such as recoveries, duel win rate, and presses are considered of high importance.
Even compared to other attackers, he ranks low in these numbers.
He also wins just 0.63 tackles per game and makes 0.28 interceptions.
He must work hard to develop this aspect of his game, as all top clubs now seek to press high and recover as soon as possible.
Secondly, part of the package for most youngsters is inconsistent form, and Tom Fellows does not fully escape that.
Fellows ended the season with a great performance and also appeared to be a step ahead of the rest of the league at times throughout the season.
Despite this, he also hit periods of poor form, with much-reduced impact.
From the 1st January 2025 to the 8th May 2025, Fellows contributed just one goal and one assist in 16 fixtures.
This is expected of a youngster but would not be accepted at the top level.
The great players separate themselves by limiting their spells of poor form to just a few games, and keeping confidence in the rough patches is usually the key.
This will come with maturity and learning from experienced professionals and supportive coaches.
This is why the next step in his career is vital.
Potential Tom Fellows Transfer Options
Tom Fellows is a rising star, and the analysis above shows just how good he can be.
With that being said, at just 21 years of age, he is extremely early in his development.
He still has a lot to improve upon, and a move to a club that didn’t suit his needs or give him the right environment could hugely hinder his growth.
Ryan Sessegnon, for example, moved from Championship Fulham to Tottenham Hotspur in 2019.
Five years later, he rejoined the Cottagers and experienced his first spell of first-team football since leaving.
Fellows must avoid this.
He will be suited to moving to a club that is stable in the Premier League and encourages direct, attacking football.
Of course, a policy of playing youth is also key.
In this regard, Everton, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth or Fulham seem like great options.
David Moyes, Oliver Glasner, and Marco Silva allow youngsters to play freely and provide the experience and guidance needed to nurture them into top professionals.
Moyes was key in Jarrod Bowen‘s development, while Adam Wharton has flourished under Glasner.
As both are EFL graduates, Fellows would be wise to follow in their footsteps.
Conclusion
Tom Fellows is an extremely talented young footballer with the potential to become a top-level right-winger.
He is fast, strong and technically gifted, meaning his potential is relatively unlimited.
We believe Fellows is now ready for the next step and is more than capable of playing for a Premier League side.
Alex Scott, Antoine Semenyo and Archie Gray have all made similar moves in recent years, and he is by no means inferior.
However, that next step is key.
If he makes the right choice for his development, we will hear the name Tom Fellows a lot over the next decade.
