Dara O’Shea says he’s enjoyed an "outstanding" couple of days with the Baggies.
The 20-year-old central defender committed to a three-and-a-half-year deal at The Hawthorns on Friday before featuring at right-back at the London Stadium in Albion’s 1-0 FA Cup win at West Ham on Saturday.
And Dara insists his new deal and playing against Premier League opponents has further accelerated his enthusiasm to be successful.
He said: "It was great to play against West Ham. Making any appearances here is great for me and that is my aim, to play as many times as possible.
"To play at such a big stadium like that against a great team was great for me, it’s a great learning curve. It made me hungry for more.
“Testing yourself at the highest level is what you want to do. Those players are great players too. It was great for me to learn from these players to see what they do and how I can try to combat it. It was a great learning curve.
“It was an outstanding couple of days, my family were there as well to watch the game.
"It was great to sign a new deal here and then go out the next day and play another game. It was quite a quick process to sign a contract - I knew I wanted to stay here and I think the Club wanted me too, so it was fairly easy to sort out."
Slaven has said he is a big fan of Dara, a feeling which is evidently mutual, with the youngster keen to learn from Albion's Croatian Head Coach.
"I think Slaven is happy with me. I am just here to try and get in his eye-line, and try and impress him. That’s all I’m trying to do and hopefully he’ll give me a few more chances to play," said Dara.
“I think this season I feel part of the squad. I am in the changing room now which is huge for me and training every day is great. When I signed here as a scholar I used to walk past the training every day and think I want to be there and now I’m actually here which is great for me.
“I’ve learnt so much from Slaven already. As soon as he came in I had my eyes on him and was seeing what information he was going to give me. From him being a past player helps me greatly but as a manager, his knowledge is just huge.
“I’m not usually a right-back, but if the gaffer puts me right-back, I’m more than happy to play there. I loved it. It is different from centre-back, I can get up a bit more and open my legs up a bit more which is great for me.
“I want to become a regular here. That is my aim and it has been since I signed as a scholar. I want to get in the first-team and be a regular and that is not going to change now I have signed a new deal.”
