West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper Luke Steele has been rewarded with a permanent deal at Barnsley after his performances for the Yorkshire club on loan last season.

The 23-year-old keeper parted company with Albion to put pen to paper on a two-year deal at Oakwell.

The deal came as a just reward for his heroics during the last three months of the season when the Tykes pulled off giant-killing victories over Liverpool and Chelsea in the FA Cup, before a semi-final defeat at the hands of Cardiff City at Wembley.

Steele also played his part in ensuring Barnsley maintained their Championship status after a close-run battle with relegation.

The talented young keeper was born in Peterborough and played through the ranks of his home town club before a big move to Manchester United in 2002.

He then spent a spell on loan at Coventry City under manager Micky Adams before moving to Albion in 2006 as part of the deal in which Baggies' keeper Tomasz Kuszczak went the other way to join Sir Alex Ferguson's Red Devils.

Although Steele was highly-rated by Mowbray he had made only two appearances for Albion and those came only when veteran keeper Dean Kiely was injured with a broken toe.

The consistent form of Kiely last season and the arrival of loan keeper Mikael Danek had pushed Steele further down the pecking order and it is understood the lure of staying at Barnsley and having the chance of first team football was too great.

Steele spoke last season about his aspirations of becoming a regular and admitted he had been frustrated at times by the openings available to him before his initial loan move to Barnsley.

He said: "This is an important stage for me in my career at this club and obviously, while I hadn't played, had been a frustrating time for me. I played a few games on loan for Coventry City and this made me move from United because I wanted to get regular first-team football.

"But then things changed and then Albion manager Bryan Robson left and since then things haven't really gone my way. But I made my mind up that I would get my head down and get on with it. I just want to do well."

Barnsley manager Simon Davey said he was delighted to have made Steele's stay permanent but hinted there would be no guarantees of the number one jersey week in week out. He said: "Luke is my first signing of the summer transfer window and we are so pleased to have netted him now on a permanent basis after he performed so well for us last season.

"We have two top quality keepers at Oakwell in Luke and Heinz Muller who are vying for the keeper's jersey That is very healthy competition and is what we are looking to achieve in every department."