Tuesday 30 September 2014 08:22, UK
West Brom defender Craig Dawson has committed his future to the club by signing a new and improved three-year contract.
The new deal will keep the 24-year-old at The Hawthorns until 2017 and ends speculation over his future after he was the subject of a number of bids from Burnley over the summer.
Dawson has started all six of Albion’s Premier League matches this season under new head coach Alan Irvine and scored his first goal for the club - on his 38th appearance - in Sunday’s 4-0 home victory over Burnley.
Irvine told the club’s official website: “Obviously Craig was very unsettled when I first arrived in the summer but we as a club were never interested in selling him.
“We felt he had the potential to be a top centre-back and once he got his head settled and knew he wasn’t going anywhere he started to put in very good performances.
Getting a new contract, which he thoroughly deserves, completes a great start to the season for him and I’m really pleased for the lad.
“His level of consistency has kept him in the team despite our having top international centre-backs breathing down his neck.
“Getting a new contract, which he thoroughly deserves, completes a great start to the season for him and I’m really pleased for the lad.”
Dawson, who can also play at right-back, joined the Baggies from Rochdale for an undisclosed fee in the summer of 2010, although he returned to his hometown club on loan for the 2010/11 season.
His Albion debut came in the League Cup the following campaign and he was selected as part of Stuart Pearce's Team GB squad at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Having started 2012/13 at The Hawthorns, Dawson went on to spend the second half of the season on loan at Bolton - featuring for England in the Under-21 European Championship that summer.
Dawson, having signed fresh terms in February 2012, was previously contracted to the club until June 2015, with a further year's option in Albion's favour.
