West Brom hand out contracts to kids

Albion today awarded teenage goalkeeper Jack Rose his first professional contract and released youngsters James Hurst and Romaine Sawyers.

moreThe Baggies extended the stays of Liam O'Neil, Kemar Roofe, Donervorn Daniels and Cameron Gayle as they revealed the fates of a host of youngsters.

Solihull-born England youth keeper Rose, 18, has been given a one-year deal with an option for a further season in the club's favour.

He will join international duo Ben Foster, Boaz Myhill and Luke Daniels in the Baggies' pool of professional glovemen and is likely to share duties in the club's under-21 side with highly-rated 16-year-old Alex Palmer.

Both have represented England at under-16 level.

Albion have awarded new one-year contracts to midfielder O'Neil and winger Roofe and taken up one-year options on defenders Daniels and Gayle.

But full-back Hurst and wideman Sawyers, who both looked destined for the first team earlier in their careers, have been released.

Central-midfielder Aaron Birch, from Halesowen, Wolverhampton striker Alex Jones and full-backs Jordan Francis of Erdington, and Wes Atkinson, from West Bromwich, have earned third-year scholarships but Joel Ambalu and Kieran McCalla have both been released after completing the second year of their scholarships.

Sporting and technical director Richard Garlick said: "Jack is one of a number of good goalkeepers at the club. We are well off in that department.

"We have three strong senior goalkeepers in Ben Foster, Boaz Myhill and Luke Daniels and Jack and Alex provide good competition underneath them.

"Jack will get good opportunities in our Under-21s team. This is an important year for him."

Academy manager Mark Harrison added: "Jack's been with us an awful long time.

"He's had some England recognition but has had a tough time over the last couple of years with injuries related to his growth.

"But he has had a good few injury-free months so hopefully he's clear of any problems now.

"Jack's highly thought of at the football club.

"He's a modern-day goalkeeper with excellent distribution skills. He's calm, manages games, is tactically very good, is in great physical shape and has really good technical attributes.

"It was a sad occasion to let Joel and Kieran go but we just felt it was in their best interests.

"The interesting thing with the boys we've kept is there is a balance through the team.

"Wes and Jordan have spent most of the season playing in the back-four, Aaron plays in central midfield, Alex Jones up front and Jack Rose in goal.

"We have therefore kept three players who are the spine of the team and two who both play in the full-back positions.

"To retain five out of seven from that age group is a good reflection on what we're doing as an Academy.

"It's also nice to see they are all local boys. It shows we are sticking to our policy of trying to develop and nurture local talent.

"They've got a lot of work to do if they're going to reach Premier League level because it's such a difficult level to get to now.

"All these boys need to work on their physical development because the Premier League players are all fine physical specimens – even the smaller ones like David Silva and Sergio Aguero.

"You can't underestimate the importance of that, as well as the technical and tactical ability they must have.

"They need to grab the opportunity by the scruff of the neck.

"Everything is in place for them to maximise their potential.

"They'll be playing in the Elite League so they will have the opportunities and they need to be pushing to get into Steve Clarke's training group."