West Brom contract extension in works for Dara O’Shea
West Brom defender Dara O’Shea is in talks with the club over an extension to his current deal at The Hawthorns, according to The Athletic.
The 23-year-old recently recovered from a lengthy injury to make a place in the Baggies starting 11 his own under Steve Bruce.
His current contract with Albion comes to a finish at the end of next season with the next 12 months set to be critical for his career.
Bruce wants to keep him around the place for much longer yet given he thinks O’Shea has what it takes to lead the Baggies in the future.
“I like Dara, I think he will be a future captain of this club,” the boss said, as quoted by The Athletic, soon after he returned to the first-team fold from injury last month.
The Athletic adds that O’Shea has recently changed his agent from Quorum Sports to USM.
Build around him
If he really is a future captain as Bruce suggests he can be, then the manager has to start looking to build a team that has him as its centre.
O’Shea has to now be one of the first names on the team sheet in central defence regardless of how good the current crop of centre-halves are playing.
You can’t have a captain whose place in the team is not almost guaranteed when he is fit if you want to be successful in any meaning of the word.
Semi Ajayi and Kyle Bartley also see their Albion deals at the end of next season so the three of them might be fighting for their future at The Hawthorns over the next year or so.
We’d all like to see O’Shea given more time at just 23 years of age and having been at the club for a number of years too.
In other West Brom news, early Birmingham team news suggests two key defenders have been ruled out of Sunday’s Midlands derby.
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