West Brom insist Craig Dawson is going nowhere

Head coach Steve Clarke's phone has been red-hot with enquiries about Dawson, who impressed hugely in a loan spell at Bolton last season which helped transform Wanderers' season.

But Clarke remains committed to giving the 23-year-old his chance to finally prove himself at Premier League level next season.

Bolton are eager to strike a permanent deal for Dawson while Nottingham Forest are equally enthusiastic.

However, the Baggies admit they are just the tip of the iceberg in Championship interest in the defender.

Clarke is challenging Dawson and all the club's young hopefuls to stake their claim.

He said: "They will get a chance, if they are good enough. That will always be the case. I was fortunate enough to play first-team football when I was 18. It didn't do me any harm.

"If you're good enough, you're old enough. If you've got a good group, like we have, it obviously helps, but if you're good enough you will be involved."

The search to replace players likely to be leaving this summer goes on amid confusing speculation. Strike targets Ola Toivonen and Dieumerci Mbokani are the subject of rival interest.

West Brom are also cool on links to Carlton Cole– with whom Clarke worked at West Ham – following his release by Hammers boss Sam Allardyce.

Clarke says the task of digging out signings is "no more difficult" than in the past but says: "The secret is not looking in different places, the secret is finding the right player.

"It doesn't matter where you look. Sometimes they're under your nose and sometimes they are a little bit further away.

"But the secret is always to find the right player and, I think by and large, with the boys we got in last season, we found the right players.

"Different players do well at different clubs. Some transfers work some don't. A case in point here would be Yassine El Ghanassy. It didn't work out for him.

"He's gone back to Holland and has done very well during the second half of the season. Some players fit to a club and some don't – that's football."