Roy Hodgson expects Keith Andrews to be given an extended contract when his current deal runs out at the end of the season – despite the midfielder featuring only twice this term!
Andrews has impressed in Albion’s midfield since his arrival from Blackburn in January after finding the net in both of his appearances against Wolves and Sunderland.
The 31-year-old Republic of Ireland international penned a six-month deal with the club on the final day of the January transfer window.
Hodgson says that deal will now be reviewed in the summer when the Baggies know what division they will be playing in.
"The move was always with a view to 'let's see how it goes and make certain we all know where we're going to be in the summer and then we will review the situation'," said Hodgson.
"He is a confident enough player to do that because he realised by coming here all we were guaranteeing was a contract until the end of the season - a decent contract and one that he had been used to - then at the end of the season one of two things would happen.
"Either things would go well for him and the club, and if that happened there was no reason to divorce, or if the club didn't do so well or he didn't settle in he would be a free agent again.
"I said to him 'I don't think you've got a lot to lose because you're a good player and everyone knows you're a good player.
"So ideally it would be a long-term future with us but if the very worst happened and we got relegated, and the club couldn't afford to keep him, he would go somewhere else as a free transfer.
"But at the moment we look to be very much on track for our goal and between now and the end of the season the club will look into those contract situations with players and people like him, who could walk away from us at the end of the year, I'm sure we will be sitting down with them to make sure that doesn't happen.
"It's really nice that he wanted to come here.
"He wanted to come to Fulham and work with me and he really wanted to come here and work with me at West Brom, so I don't see any major problems."
Would you give Andrews another contract beyond this season? Have your say at WBA-MAD's fans' forum here at Baggies Banter.