Wallwork turns down Baggies offer

West Brom player of the year Ronnie Wallwork has rejected the club’s offer of a new two-year deal – and his agent claims it would make the midfielder “one of the poorest-paid players in the Premiership”.

Wallwork was rewarded for an outstanding second half of the season with the new offer which would keep him at the Hawthorns until the summer of 2007.

But his agent Neil Sillett believes the new contract does not meet the financial terms Wallwork deserves after helping to keep the Baggies in the Premiership.

Sillett told the Birmingham Sunday Mercury: “Ronnie is very grateful that he has been offered further employment from West Brom. But we have turned down the deal twice because the increase equates to something minor in football terms.

“Ronnie was offered a deal that would have given him a major loss of income if Albion were relegated. That was fine. You would expect that.

“But after staying up, the terms offered would make him one of the poorest paid players in the Premiership.

“We agreed to keep things out of the press so it is a surprise to me that the club have gone public. Ronnie is desperate to play for Bryan Robson. All we want is for him to be on a par with the rest of the team.

“We would be delighted to talk over those terms. Ronnie feels that he has been an integral part of Albion’s success and we want that reflected in his contract.”