West Brom are keen to tie 18-year-old defender Nathan Ferguson down to a new contract at the club, the Express and Star have reported.

A graduate of the Baggies' academy, Ferguson has enjoyed his first run in the club's senior side during the start to the current campaign, where his performances certainly seem to have caught the eye.

Ferguson's contract with the club is set to expire at the end of the summer however, and it seems that the club are keen to avoid losing the teenager on a free when the summer transfer window reopens again in June.

As a result, West Brom are set to open talks with the defender about extending his stay at The Hawthorns beyond the end of the season.

So how good a piece of business would keeping Ferguson be for the Baggies?

Here, we put the spotlight on his performances so this season to find out.

So far this season, Ferguson has played every minute of every league game West Brom have played, underlining the trust that Slaven Bilic has in him, and taking a more in-depth look at the stats behind those performances, you can certainly why that is the case.

With Ferguson having been used as a right-back so far this season, the teenager has so far managed to keep £1.5million summer signing Darnell Furlong out of the side, although the pressure of doing that doesn't seem to be getting to him.

Given he has a defensive duel success rate of almost 50%, it seems that Ferguson has both the confidence and ability to take on more experienced and established players at this level, which, given his position on the right of the defence, means he has been - and will be - going up against some of the quickest and most dangerous players in the division.

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That doesn't seem to have phased Ferguson however, and add to that the fact he has won over half of his aerial duels this season, and it appears as though the youngster is establishing quite a presence in the Baggies' backline.

It also appears as though Ferguson already has the initiative to take his defending into his own hands, which also shows the level of maturity the 18-year-old possesses.

Having made 26 interceptions and six clearances in just three Championship games so far this season, it appears as though Ferguson is capable and confident of being the one to step forward and take responsibility when it comes to dealing with potentially dangerous attacks and deliveries into West Brom's defensive area.

Combine that with a pretty reliable pass success rate of 76.3%, and you can certainly see why Bilic and co. are more than happy to use Ferguson as part of their defence.

At just 18-years-old, and with these three games the only ones he has in senior football under his belt, the potential for Ferguson that these stats highlight seems to be huge, and you can only expect he will go from strength to strength now he has forced his way into the side.

You feel, therefore, that West Brom's desire to get Ferguson locked into a new contract will be of little surprise to anyone at all.