WANDERERS player of the year Tim Ream has committed his future to the club by agreeing an extended contract.

The Bolton News understands a deal has been settled in principle for a new three-year deal to run until the summer of 2017.

Sources in Ream’s native USA have revealed the 26-year-old defender has verbally agreed the new terms after the offer from the club to replace his current contract which still has one year left.

It is a timely boost for boss Dougie Freedman after Ream’s outstanding displays last season had reportedly alerted top-flight clubs with West Brom linked with a potential summer bid.

To have secured his services on an extended deal is a big plus for Wanderers.

The international defender may not have done enough to convince US men’s coach Jurgen Klinsmann he deserves a place in his country’s World Cup squad this summer but his form was certainly impressive last season.

Ream operated in a deep-lying midfield role as well as his natural position at the heart of the defence.

But he spent the vast majority of the campaign as a makeshift left-back in the absence of the injured Marc Tierney and filled in superbly.

The man who signed from New York Red Bulls in January 2012 for a fee in the region of £2.5million, made 45 appearances last season – his most in a campaign since moving to English football.

It was no surprise when he picked up a player-of-the-year double, poling 39 per cent of an online vote to take the club’s award, and also winning the Bolton Wanderers Supporters’ Association trophy.

And Ream put his successful campaign down to being more settled on and off the field.

On picking up the club’s player of the year award, he said: “I feel settled off the field, and that’s also a big factor whether people believe it or not.

“I feel happy and am working in a structure and programme that really helps us as players.

“It’s nice and humbling knowing that people think you’ve done a good job, but at the end of the day it’s about the squad.”

With the agreement of a new deal, Ream is set to remain settled in the North West.