West Brom starlet signs new deal

The new deal will keep the 17-year-old at the Hawthorns until 2011.

Albion manager Tony Mowbray said: “I’m delighted Chris has been rewarded with his contract. Hopefully he is the first of a handful of young players who will be signing pro contracts over the summer.

“We feel the future is very bright for the players who are now starting to emerge from the Academy, some of whom were on the bench at Blackburn on Sunday.

“There’s a really positive feeling coming from the Academy. We possess some young, talented individuals.

“They’ve all got a lot of hard work ahead of them but they’ll hopefully have bright futures in the game.”