GettyImagesJonas Olsson has been a colossus in his five seasons at West Brom

It was some weekend for Albion fans, I have already blogged about the win over QPR that left Albion with 14 points heading into the international break, but the good news actually started rolling on Friday night as it was revealed Jonas Olsson had signed a new four-year deal with West Brom.

At times it looked like the club would lose Olsson, who had only one year left on his contract and could have started talking to foreign clubs from the January window. Keeping Olsson is a huge sign of the progress being made by the club both on and off the pitch.

I believe that Olsson is capable of playing at a higher level than West Brom, I think he could get into a side such as Newcastle or Everton, who are on the fringes of the top clubs. Olsson was in fact near to joining Spurs in the summer until Harry Redknapp left, another sign of how highly he is rated. Therefore it is clearly a sign of West Brom's progress that Olsson believes he can achieve his goals with the club.

Olsson has always been an ambitious personality, he strives for the best and has stated he wants to win things in his career. The departure of Roy Hodgson, who Olsson was a big admirer of, could have had an impact, but such is the work the club have done over the summer both in player and staff recruitment that the loss of Hodgson is not being felt. Whatthe Baggieshave done over the summer is to tie-down key players such as Ben Foster and James Morrison to long-term deals, whilst adding even more quality to the squad. This has been mentioned by Olsson as one of the reasons he has stayed on.

Olsson has also stated how much he is enjoying working under Steve Clarke. This is clearly another thumbs up for Dan Ashworth, his team and the chairman Jeremy Peace who have looked for an air of continuity when appointing head coaches since the days of Tony Mowbray. Mowbray brought a particlar playing style that the fans brought into and this has been developed through the reigns of Di Matteo, Hodgson and now Clarke. Good football continues to be played but Hodgson and now Clarke have added defensive solidity to.

Olsson has been at the heart of this tightness at the back, but he has always been a stand out performer since joining under Tony Mowbray, where his prolonged absence that season was arguably the main reason for Albion's relegation. Under Roberto Di Matteo, Olsson had another spell out of the side which was arguably the catalyst for the run that saw Di Matteo sacked.

In fact up until the game with QPR last season, Albion had failed to win a game in the Premier League when Olsson wasn't playing. This fact backs up my opinion that despite West Brom's large array of attacking talent, Olsson is the club's most important player. This season in particular Olsson's form has been out of this world. He has not put a foot wrong, he seems to win every header and make every block that needs to be made. Olsson is also a born leader and that rubs off on the rest of the defence.

He has also formed a fantastic partnership at the heart of the defence with Gareth McAuley. For too long Olsson had to put up with the likes of Shelton Martis or Leon Barnett at the back, and this didn't help him as he had to spent half of his time covering their errors. Alongside McAuley, Olsson knows he does not have to worry about his partner which allows him to concentrate on his own game.

Another area of Olsson's game that goes under the radar somewhat is his ability on the ball. He does play the odd "interesting" pass but he brings the ball out of defence very well and can often be seen playing a pass that bisects the opposition's midfield into the path of West Brom's forward players. McAuley is a fantastic defender but he doesn't have this facet to his game, yet another reason why their styles compliment each other so well.

Centre half is a key position in the side, and is arguably one of the hardest positions to find a replacement for. Olsson was signed for £800,000, I think he is now worth ten times that. And I am fairly certain that despite the extensive and successful Albion scouting network, I don't believe the club could have found a centre back to replace Olsson for that price.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Email