West Brom reject five loan offers for promising teenager Sam Field
Albion have been forced to reject several offers from lower-league clubs to take promising midfielder Sam Field on loan.
Norwich City, Derby County, Barnsley, Sheffield United, and MK Dons have all shown interest in taking the 19-year-old midfielder for the season.
Tony Pulis is eager to get Field regular first-team football but the Baggies have not yet replaced departed skipper Darren Fletcher in central midfield, and so the Welshman has reluctantly said no to all offers so far.
Some of the disappointed clubs have since taken their loan deals off the table.
The England youth team player made nine first-team appearances last season, and is now Pulis's third-choice central midfielder behind Jake Livermore and Claudio Yacob.
Although Chris Brunt and James Morrison can also play in central midfield, Morrison is returning from injury and Brunt is often needed either on the wing or at full-back.
Field is not the only youngster being kept at the club while Albion search for new players.
Walsall are just one of many clubs to approach the Baggies about 18-year-old forward Tyler Roberts, who enjoyed a successful loan spell at Shrewsbury Town last season.
Winger Jonathan Leko, also 18, has garnered interest too, but has been kept back so far.
This is a familiar situation for both Leko and Field, who had to turn down loan deals from Championship clubs in January because the squad was too thin.
Pulis has been forced to play plenty of academy players in pre-season thanks to a series of minor injuries to his senior players.
Although the majority of his squad will be fit in time for Bournemouth, he has just 15 senior players on the books he is willing to use.
He hopes to get enough bodies in during this window to allow his youngsters to go out on loan.
"They need to get out and learn about the finer arts of professional football," he said this summer.
Pulis wants to bring 'four or five' players in before the window shuts at the end of this month and is currently focusing on a central midfielder and a young centre-back.
Meanwhile, negotiations between Albion and Craig Dawson's representatives over a new long-term contract have fired up again.
Dawson has one year left on his current deal but has been offered a new long-term contract after missing just one Premier League game in the past two seasons.
