You just had to feed Callum the ball and it would be: touch, touch, goal

For most of his time at Preston North End, Callum Robinson was known primarily for two things his grin and a love of scoring goals. He was a bloody nightmare in training because all he ever wanted to do was get half a yard and shoot, recalls former defender Tommy Spurr, who played alongside

For most of his time at Preston North End, Callum Robinson was known primarily for two things — his grin and a love of scoring goals.

“He was a bloody nightmare in training because all he ever wanted to do was get half a yard and shoot,” recalls former defender Tommy Spurr, who played alongside Robinson for two years at Deepdale.

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“If you were on his team you would just want to give him the ball because he’s got that individual mindset where, if you give him the ball, he believes he can score,” says John Welsh, who was a Preston midfielder when Robinson first arrived on loan in 2014 until the summer of 2018, a year before the current West Bromwich Albion forward left.

Since the summer of 2016, when Robinson joined Preston permanently from Aston Villa, only two players have attempted more shots on goal than Robinson in the Championship — despite the 25-year-old spending the first half of this campaign in the Premier League with Sheffield United.

Lukas Jutkiewicz leads the way with 406 attempts for Birmingham while Ollie Watkins comes in second with 327 in just three seasons with Brentford. Robinson is next on the list with 299, mainly for Preston and now with Albion. His arrival at The Hawthorns has coincided with a return to form that has lifted them back to the top of the table with a 10-point advantage over third place ahead of Wednesday evening’s games.

Only Jutkiewicz (159), Jarrod Bowen (121), Lewis Grabban (117) and Watkins (113) have bettered Robinson’s total of 109 shots on target in the same period while his total of 31 goals puts him 19th in the Championship scoring charts.

Not bad for a forward who spent most of his time at Deepdale and so far all of his brief spell at The Hawthorns operating from the left flank.

“It’s probably his ball-carrying,” says Welsh when asked why Robinson thrives out wide. “Most No 9s get hold of it and lay it off and get in the box, whereas Callum is a ball-carrier. He wants the ball at his feet and his ball-carrying skills are really good.

“A lot of his goals are created by himself. He will dribble or do a one-two and get a shot off. He plays as a No 10 quite well too because that is about getting in positions or carrying the ball rather than holding it up and laying it off.”

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Spurr adds: “In any small-sided games he was a nightmare to play against because he would just cut in onto his right foot. He played out on the left for Preston, coming in and shooting whenever he could, and just before he left he had the most shots of anyone in the Preston team that season.

“His desire to score and do well was great.

“Generally he played out wide but he did have times when he played down the middle as a No 9 and I thought he did well there. Although he’s not the biggest, he’s stronger than people think and he’s quite good at holding the ball up so he can do that role as well.

“When you play against him it doesn’t seem like there’s anything to him but he’s really good at using his body and managing to get a yard and wriggle away from someone. He’s intelligent in how he uses his body.”

Robinson spent three spells on loan at Preston and one at Bristol City before signing permanently for Simon Grayson in 2016. He left three years later as a proven goalscorer and one of the most sought-after talents outside the top division.

“Preston put me on the map, basically,” Robinson told The Athletic. “I came out of there a much better player and that helped me to get my Premier League move. I owe them a lot. I had some good times there and really enjoyed it, especially with my development.

“It was just about getting me in a position to score goals. Goals get you out of this league to get a Premier League move. That’s what Alex Neil did and I thank him for helping me get in those areas.”

Spurr says: “When he came in you could see he was talented and he had a lot of ability but I think Alex Neil really helped him and we saw him develop into a player who would be more effective in games at scoring and creating goals and that’s how he got his move.

“He worked really hard. He stays out and practises finishing, shooting and crossing. His work ethic is excellent and he listens. As happy-go-lucky as he seems, he is really intent on getting better, which is credit to him really.

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“He was a young lad when he first signed and he got better the more he played and Alex Neil helped with that. Positionally and tactically he understood his role a lot more after Alex spoke to him and laid out his role.”

Welsh says: “If you were on his team in small-sided games you just had to feed him the ball and it would be touch, touch, goal. He just always found himself getting in positions where he could get a shot off and that transferred itself into games.

“He always believed he could score in every game that he played and he would always be a bit disappointed if he didn’t which as an attacking player is a great mindset.

“When he first arrived he was a good player but he’s got that drive to improve every day and would always be working on something. That’s what told me he would go and play at the top level.”

Robinson’s former club found themselves on the receiving end of his talents last night as the former Aston Villa trainee delivered the cross from which Hal Robson-Kanu opened the scoring, before providing another pass from which Robson-Kanu teed up the second goal in a 2-0 Albion win for Jake Livermore.

There was also plenty from the intelligent movement from wide to central areas that has made him an invaluable member of Slaven Bilic’s squad.

In his second Albion game at Millwall, Robinson made one darting run from the flank, leaving full-back Mahlon Romeo standing and finding himself in a shooting position, as this series of images shows…

His first West Brom goal at home to Nottingham Forest saw him drift into a central position early…


But his second goal, away to Bristol City, came from a trademark diagonal run…

Since his Albion debut on February 1, his tally of 29 shots is the joint highest in the division, alongside Said Benrahma, while his total of 11 shots on target puts him second only to the Brentford man. And while his movement and eye for goal has endeared him to Albion fans, his obvious enthusiasm and appetite for success has helped, too.

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The infectious personality that has become clear to Albion fans was a constant feature of his time at Deepdale, too.

“He’s just got a smile on his face constantly,” says Spurr. “On the coach he was either the loudest person or he was asleep. If he was awake he was bouncing off the walls. He’s a great lad and he’s popular wherever he’s been.

Welsh adds: “From the minute he walked into Preston you could see he had something, even with the way he carried himself around the place. He was always bubbly and making people laugh. He was very likeable. He always made me smile and he’s one of those people you want to be around because he’s lively and happy all the time.

“That translated to the way he was on the pitch. He played with freedom and he just wanted to be on the ball and scoring goals. If he wasn’t asleep he would be loud and lively and making people laugh. There is about 12 years between our ages but he was someone I enjoyed being around.

“We had a really good dressing room and Callum was the life and soul of it. He is a really loud, bubbly person and he could have been talking about politics and he would put it in a funny way and make you laugh.”

(Photo: Adam Fradgley – AMA/WBA FC via Getty Images)

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