Jonas Olsson looks set to stay at West Bromwich Albion after manager Steve Clarke gave the strongest indication yet over his future.

The Swedish international is still locked in talks with his employers of four years, who remain hopeful that they can persuade him to sign a contract extension.

Clarke has been pleased with the way Olsson has trained during the pre-season schedule despite the continued speculation about his future.

With each passing day it looks more and more likely that the 29-year-old will stay, at least for another season, which pleases boss Clarke.

“There has been no indication that Jonas is going to leave us,” said the head-coach.

“Over the summer he’s worked well, played games and played with his normal 100 per-cent commitment.

“He’s got a year left on his contract so he’s not a free transfer, so as far as we’re concerned Jonas is under contract and will be with us next season.

“There is nothing that has happened over pre-season to change our mind on that.”

Clarke has already signed Ben Foster, Claudio Yacob, Yassine El Ghanassy, Romelu Lukaku and Markus Rosenberg.

The latter is friends with Olsson and recently admitted that it was his fellow countryman who persuaded him to join Albion.

Rosenberg quizzed the centre-half during the European Championships and insisted that he will now try to convince him to remain in the Midlands.

If he was to stay it would be a huge boost for Albion, who have not yet strengthened their backline this summer.

However, Clarke says that further deals could follow this week with defensive reinforcements his top priority.

“Maybe we don’t have immediate cover for Liam Ridgewell but Gonzalo Jara and Billy Jones can play at left-back so there is cover in the squad,” he said.

“There’s perhaps not natural cover in the squad but we do have cover.

“It’s important to get the basis of your squad in place.

“As the transfer window reaches the end of August it will become a little bit frantic and you don’t want to be in a position where you’re making rash decisions without thinking them through.

“So we’ve tried to do business early and build a squad early.

“If the window closed now, I’d be happy with the squad I’ve got.

“If something came up between now and the end of the window that could improve the squad we would look to do it, but we’re in a position now where we don’t have to make rash decisions.”