West Brom set to offer Craig Dawson a new contract
Albion are set to offer ever-present defender Craig Dawson a new long-term contract in the coming weeks.
The right-back’s current deal expires at the end of next season but he will be rewarded with a new one after yet another campaign firmly established in the team.
The 26-year-old has only missed one game this season, through suspension, after featuring in every single league match last term.
He has now made more than 120 Premier League appearances since being signed from Rochdale in 2010, and the majority of those have come under Pulis.
“Dawson has impressed me all season, I pick him every week,” said the Baggies boss recently. “When he plays right-back he does fantastically well for the team.”
The former non-league star signed a one-year extension with improved terms in February 2016 to bring his salary in line with other first-team players, but he will be offered another pay rise this time around after cementing his importance to the squad.
Although Pulis prefers him at right-back because he gives the team an extra aerial presence alongside two centre-backs, Dawson proved capable of playing in the middle earlier this year during a successful four-game stint there when Jonny Evans was injured.
The former England under-21 international is eager to move inside to his preferred position and has told Pulis of his long-term desire to play centre-half.
Gareth McAuley turns 38 in December, and when the evergreen Northern Irishman eventually retires it could open the door for Dawson, but Pulis wants to buy a centre-back this summer.
He is interested in Middlesbrough’s Ben Gibson, who was recently called up to the England national squad, and has been linked with Celtic’s promising 22-year-old defender, Jozo Simunovic.
The position Dawson plays could be a potential sticking point in negotiations as he enters the prime of his career, although decision-makers at the club are not predicting the talks to be too fractious.
Dawson and his family are settled in the area and the defender has enjoyed his run in the team under Pulis, even though it has been out of his favoured position.
