Hawthorns rehab for injured Stags loanee Howkins

The 6ft 5ins 20-year-old made a very impressive start to life in League Two with the Stags before limping off in midweek last week in the EFL Trophy clash with Doncaster Rovers.

That forced boss Adam Murray to have to delve into the transfer marker for cover and bring in Nottingham Forest’s highly-rated Alex Iacovitti on loan for the rest of the season.

Howkins is expected to be out for at least a month and Murray said: “Kyle is a big miss, but I think we’ve got a more than adequate replacement.

“Because it’s a hamstring injury we didn’t want him driving up to Mansfield every day.

“That’s not going to do him any good. I think he lives two miles from West Brom’s training ground, so for the first couple of weeks he’s going to have his initial treatment there.

“That’s the most important part of it. Then when he starts his proper rehab, he will be back in with us.

“He has many attributes. He looks like a rugby player doesn’t he?

“Kyle is physically huge, but he’s quick. You don’t usually find someone that big as lightning quick. And he can play.

“He will go on to have a very good career. As it stands, his loan with us is until January and it will be something we will be looking at extending.

“So, like Alex, we want him to enjoy his season with us.”

On new boy Iacovitti, Murray continued: “Alex can play just as well at left back as centre half so we have a lot of options with Alex.

“They are two very good players that make us better and hopefully they will push us on.

“Kyle is a big miss. But we haven’t seen Alex yet and he is going to be a fantastic player.

“Even in a couple of days training we’ve seen, for a kid, he is a leader. He is aggressive, he’s strong, he’s technically very good.”