West Bromwich Albion Football Club

• Nickname:The Baggies
• Founded:1878
• Manager:Steve Clarke

• Ground:The Hawthorns
• Capacity:25400

Baggies hope for Koren stay

05 May 2010 - 13:31:20

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West Bromwich Albion assistant manager Eddie Newton remains hopeful that Slovenia midfielder Robert Koren will remain with the club for their return to the Premier League.

The 29-year-old is out of contract this summer and had fallen out of favour with the Baggies earlier on this season, but he returned to the fold to play a key role in Albion securing automatic promotion.

Newton told the Express & Star: "We understood Robert's position going into a World Cup year, being a senior player with a new management group coming all. It was suddenly all-change for him.

"But from January we saw a big change in him and it was a really good change. His form since then has been fantastic.

"Let's hope he stays with us. In life you can never tell what's going to happen and if we get a great offer for him, so be it.

"I would never recommend holding a player back, but we really hope he stays. He is a fantastic footballer and he's got a great brain, especially in the final third."