Blues full-back Conor Townsend says his close friend Dara O’Shea signing a new contract which runs to the summer of 2030 shows Town’s intent ahead of the new season.

Republic of Ireland international central defender O’Shea had been linked with Premier League clubs but ended any speculation by penning an extended contract on Tuesday.

“He’s a good friend of mine, we were close at West Brom and our partners and kids are close,” Townsend told TWTD.

“For him to sign a new deal I think shows the intent of the club, what we want to do as a club and to tie him down to a long-term deal is massive.

“For him, he sees the club as one that’s still going in the right direction and one that he can help do that, and can help his career as well.

“Really happy they’ve managed to do it and hopefully it’s the start of what’s going to be a positive summer for the club.”

He added: “Dara will have been speaking to [chairman and CEO] Mark [Ashton] and [manager] Kieran [McKenna] and the talks must have been positive enough that he wants to stay.

“Everyone wants to be in the Premier League, that’s the pinnacle of this game but I think Dara feels that this is the place that he can do that, hopefully going up and then securing ourselves in the Premier League. It’s bonus for the club and I think it’s good for us as players to see that as well.”

Townsend himself joined the Blues last summer for £750,000 from the Baggies but might have signed six years earlier with Town targeting him in the summer of 2018 when he was at Scunthorpe.

“Paul Hurst was the manager at the time and I’d had Hursty at Grimsby when I was a young kid, he took me on my first loan,” the 32-year-old recalled.

“Ipswich and Hull, where I’d come from, they both had bids accepted and West Brom came in, and at the time I thought it was the right thing to do.

“It was close, to be fair, and out of the other two I would have actually come here with Hirsty because I thought I would have played under him.”

Photo: Matchday Images

busterjames1 added 16:35 - Jun 27 Lets hope both get a good run in the team . Untill his injury Connor was awesome and better defensively than Leif.
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