A “delighted” Conor Townsend expressed just how much he “loves” being at West Bromwich Albion after penning a contract extension at The Hawthorns.
The 28-year-old, who is now into his fourth season at the Albion, has prolonged his stay until the summer of 2025.
Townsend has become a fans’ favourite and one of the club’s most important players having performed consistently well in recent times, earning tongue-in-cheek comparisons to Real Madrid and Brazil’s legendary left-back Roberto Carlos across social media.
Conor believes Albion’s offer of an extended deal is a huge personal compliment and was keen to stress his desire to keep repaying the faith the club have shown in him.
He said: “I’m delighted to have signed an extension on my deal.
“I’ve made no secret of the fact that I love it here. I’m really excited to be here and be part of the project going forward into the next few years.
“It’s a massive compliment for myself that the club have shown faith in me throughout my time here.
“I want to repay that by performing well on a personal level.
“I feel like I’ve been improving a lot over the last few years.
“Now I’m getting into my late twenties and early thirties, I feel like these are going to be my prime years.
“I always believed in myself and I always believed I was good enough to get to the level I am playing at now.
“It took a while. I was obviously behind Gibbo (Kieran Gibbs) for a little while and that was a big learning curve for me.
“I feel like I’ve taken that role on and performed well and I want to try and keep performing well.”
The defender added: “I have a really good relationship with the supporters.
“They seem to have taken to me, especially the last two or three years.
“There are the tongue-in-cheek comments online which I’ve spoken about before.
“I feel the love from the fans when I go on the pitch and I think that really helps, knowing that I’m liked at the club. It helps me go out and perform with confidence.”
The Baggies return to Sky Bet Championship action on Saturday with a trip north to Huddersfield Town’s John Smith’s Stadium (ko 3pm).
And Townsend says his side are determined to get back to winning ways on the road in front of what will be a sold-out away end.
“The result before the international break against Middlesbrough at home left us disappointed.
“The break has given us an opportunity to step back and almost reset ourselves because we know we have a big period of games ahead of us now, running through the Christmas period and into the start of 2022.
“We need to kick on and get plenty of positive results so we can work our way up towards the top two.
“We’re not happy with the fact we’ve lost our last three on the road.
“That’s not where we should be. We’ve been working all week on how we’re going to put it right and I’ve got every confidence we can do that.”
