Striker in positive frame of mind heading into summer talks
MARKUS Rosenberg insists it would be a dream come true to secure a regular first-team place at The Hawthorns next season – after another impressive performance in Albion’s 1-0 defeat at Manchester City last night.
The 30-year-old striker started only his fourth Barclays Premier League fixture – and came desperately close to scoring an equaliser in the Etihad Stadium encounter when his 50th-minute free-kick rattled Joe Hart’s crossbar.
And the Sweden international, who penned a three-year Albion deal last summer after moving to England, believes he is beginning to show his potential after back-to-back Baggies starts.
“I hope I’m still here next season,” said Rosenberg.
“My dream is to still be here.
“That’s why I signed for three years.
“My dream is to stay here and play like I have played for the last two games for a whole season.
“That is my dream but, like I said to the gaffer, I still want to play football.
“My hope is to stay here and fulfil my contract.”
The former Ajax and Werder Bremen forward revealed he plans to sit down with Steve Clarke to discuss his future.
“It is difficult for me to talk after starting two games, but if you look back at the season it’s been a terrible one for myself,” added Rosenberg.
“I have never experienced this before.
“I have always played wherever I was so it’s been a tough year mentally.
“Normally you come out stronger after a year like this but still I want to play football.
“I’m not so young anymore so I will have to sit down with the coach and with my agent and discuss the future.”
Rosenberg insists his performances against Wigan and City prove he has what it takes to score goals in the Barclays Premier League.
“I think I have proved in these two games what I can do and I have scored goals all my life, so that’s not a problem because I know I can score," he said.
“But I need to have more game time than I’ve had this year and that’s what I need to discuss with the head coach.
“I had some good chances and I should have scored last night.
“But it can be like that.
“You have to get more minutes on the pitch to get the feeling right to score those chances.
“The feeling is good but I still haven’t scored, which is disappointing.”
The Linhamm-born player believes Albion did not deserve to lose to last year’s champions.
“If you look at the game over 90 minutes and all the chances we created, I think at least one point would have been deserved," he added.
“It felt like we controlled the game overall.
“They had a few minutes at the end of the first half when they scored and after that they controlled it for a little bit.
“But overall we played really well.”