Ryan Mason addresses talks with half-dozen West Brom senior players out of contract
Albion boss Ryan Mason has confirmed talks have taken place regarding the club's out of contract players.
Half-a-dozen senior members of the Baggies' first-team squad see their terms at The Hawthorns expire at the end of the season.
Albion's football structure exists so the head coach does not take the lead on dealings such as transfers and contract negotiations with the hierarchy led by club president and sporting director Andrew Nestor taking the lead.
Of the six players out of contract at the end of June just one, attacker Karlan Grant, 28, has been a regular in the starting line-up of late. Midfielder Ousmane Diakite, 25, has made eight starts and a further eight as a substitute. Striker duo Josh Maja and Daryl Dike, who have suffered with injury, goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith and club captain Jed Wallace are also out of contract.
"It's not my job to necessarily negotiate but it's part of my job to say who I want to stay," Mason told BBC Radio WM.
"There are a few players out of contract and those conversations have happened and will happen, we'll see how the next sort of period pans out.
"I'm sure the squad will look very different next season to what it does now - that's just football."
Grant has made nine starts and caught the eye of late with his first two goals of the season. He is in the sixth and final season of the long-term contract he signed upon a big-money £15million move from Huddersfield in 2020, which Albion paid across the wide forward's entire spell at the club.
Maja, 26, last season's top scorer who broke down injured in the new year, has made just five starts and scored once having struggled to get up to speed since a return.
Dike, 25, has barely featured this term following the latest of his injury-ridden four years at The Hawthorns.
Wildsmith, who is 30 later in December, has largely played a back-up role since checking in from Derby two summers ago, but boss Mason has called him in to deputise for Josh Griffiths for the last three games.
Winger Wallace, who is 32 in March, made four starts and a further five appearances from the bench before a serious muscle injury in October.
Albion have allowed several long-serving players to leave the club in the last two summers since the Bilkul takeover as the decision-makers made move to bring down the squad's average age and add more value.