Craig Dawson has today signed for Premiership West Bromwich Albion for an undisclosed fee in a deal which sees him remain at Dale for the rest of this season. Craig has signed a three year deal with a further year's option in West Brom's favour and it is a great compliment to Craig and to the team at Rochdale that he has joined a Premiership Club so early in his career. Whilst Dale supporters everywhere will be sad to see Craig leave the Club they will be happy that the terms of the deal mean we have his services for the rest of our first season in League One and that he will be helping to establish Dale in League One.

Talking to Keith before he left for Port Vale he said " This is a great piece of business for all parties and certainly the best piece of business since I have been at the Club. We are really pleased for Craig as he has achieved what he wants, West Brom have secured the most talented young defender in the country, we are pleased that the Club has been recognised and rewarded for the efforts we have made in Craig's development and with Craig remaining here until the end of the season we have a player who is fully inclusive in respect of what we want to achieve as a Club this season. Everyone wins and all parties are to be applauded in constructing a deal which benefits every party, the player, the Clubs, myself and Dave , it really is a case of winners all round ".

Statement from Colin Garlick - Chief Executive Rochdale AFC.

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 their 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.

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 paying to Rochdale as they have 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.

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 the season.

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

Colin Garlick

Chief Executive/Secretary

Rochdale AFC