Roberto De Zerbi has revealed how he fought “in a good way” with Jan Paul van Hecke.

The Dutch centre-back has signed a new contract with Albion, taking him to June 2027.

He has emerged as a regular this season having been frustrated and disappointed at a lack of opportunity last term.

De Zerbi has been impressed by his progress in recent months.

Asked what he said to van Hecke when he was not in the team, the head coach said: “We fight! We fought - but we fought in a good way.

“We spoke a lot of time with him.

“I think the most important quality of JP is the balance between the arrogance and the confidence in himself.

“He is not arrogant but his confidence in himself is high, high, high.

“It is his secret to keep this level because he has an incredible personality, incredible leadership and he is so young.”

De Zerbi was asked how he felt as a head coach to be engaged in such confident manner by a young player.

He answered: “It’s not normal to see one young player with that level of personality. It is not so easy.

“But my work is to give the organisation, give the solution on the pitch.

“But the most important part in my work is to give confidence to transfer my idea, what I think about them, the confidence.

“I believe a lot in my players and I try to give confidence and to keep them relaxed to play in what they know.”

De Zerbi believes van Hecke, 23, still has scope for improvement and he would love to see him develop as a goal threat.

He said: “He can score more goals from set-pieces when we are attacking.

“I think he already has the right personality and charisma to command the defensive line.

“But we have Lewis Dunk, he is another big leader for us.

“About van Hecke and Bill Gilmour, I have to be proud and I have to spend something more on them.

“They are both great guys and they deserve to play in this level now because their improvement has been fantastic. Great”.