Dawson joins West Bromwich Albion

Photo: Jon Coluccio

Craig Dawson

Rochdale’s Craig Dawson has signed for Premiership Club West Bromwich Albion for an undisclosed fee.

The deal will see Dawson remain at ‘Dale for the rest of the season.

Dawson has signed a three year deal with a further one year option in West Brom’s favour.

Chief Executive of Rochdale AFC, Colin Garlick said: “I am sure that the news that Craig Dawson has been transferred will not come as a surprise to Dale fans as we all knew it was going to be difficult to hang on to Craig. The deal that we have done with West Bromwich Albion is a win, win, win situation for all involved.

“The club did not want to sell Craig and indeed we have resisted approaches from other clubs because the offers did not meet our valuation of the player and Craig is important to what we want to achieve at Rochdale.

“Realistically we knew that Craig would one day leave the club and Craig himself has been in our thoughts as he has expressed a desire to progress up the football ladder.

“Craig now knows his short and long term future and thoroughly deserves his opportunity next season to compete at a even higher level of the game.”

Mr Garlick continued: “West Brom have an excellent young player who I am sure will go on to do very well for them. I also believe that it is a great compliment that West Brom are to paying to Rochdale as they agreed to leave Craig with us for the rest of the season to continue his education and development under Keith and Dave.

“In knowing that Craig would leave the club one day it was important for this to be done under our terms bearing in mind also, the wish of the player. In transferring the player to West Brom the club will obviously benefit financially, both now and in the future. A key part of this deal taking place with West Brom at this time was the agreement that Craig would come back to us immediately on loan for the full season without a recall. This gives us a player that we know well and who is very important in what we are looking to achieve this season and it also gives us almost 12 months to find a suitable replacement for Craig.”

Mr Garlick concluded: “A number of people can be a little cynical when the transfer fee is stated as undisclosed but this is usually done for a number of reasons and in this instance it is because this is a complex agreement that includes loaning the player back to the original club and therefore putting an actual value on the deal is difficult but again I stress the key to this deal was getting Craig back on loan for the rest of season.

“I really do see this as a win, win, win situation for Rochdale, West Bromwich Albion and Craig.”