Report: West Brom table formal contract offer to centre-back Bilic cannot stop raving about
West Brom tabled a formal contract offer to defender Dara O’Shea in December, according to The Athletic.
The 20-year-old’s current deal is set to expire at the end of the season but after an impressive display against Brentford last month, Albion took the decision to table fresh terms to the youngster.
O’Shea made his debut for West Brom in August when he played all 90 minutes of the Carabao Cup defeat to Millwall before coming off the bench in the 1-1 draw with the Bees.
He then earned his third and most recent appearance for the Baggies on Sunday when he played at right-back in the 1-0 win against Charlton in the FA Cup.
The Athletic reports that there is a willingness from both sides of the negotiation table to strike a new agreement for O’Shea but it is understood that he will not be short of admirers in the summer should he become a free agent.
Slaven Bilic cannot stop raving about the Republic of Ireland youth international though and is bound to push hard for the Black Country club to wrap up a new deal.
“I love Dara O’Shea. We all love him,” said Bilic. “But forget about how nice he is as a kid. I love Dara as a football player. In the summer, we lost three players in that position — (Craig) Dawson, (Mason) Holgate and (Tosin) Adarabioyo, plus Hegazi had surgery — and we only brought in one. The club wanted to bring in more, and the only reason we didn’t was Dara.
“From day one, he showed dedication, motivation, readiness to learn and, more than anything, potential and quality.”
O’Shea is not the only young player at The Hawthorns whose contract expires in the summer as there are also doubts surrounding Nathan Ferguson’s future as he is in the same situation as the Irish centre-back.
Hopefully West Brom can sort out these issues as soon as possible because now we are in January, non-English clubs can approach these two on pre-contract deals ahead of the summer.
We do not want to see yet more youngsters leave the club for peanuts.
In other West Brom news, Bilic has confirmed this senior player is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.