West Bromwich Albion chief Dan Ashworth insists they have a stronger squad compared to last season.

The Hawthorns sporting director claims the Baggies have strengthened their options for boss Roy Hodgson's first full season at the helm.

Ashworth told the Express & Star: "I think that if you look at the squad as it stands now compared with where we were when we kicked the final ball of last season at Newcastle, we do have a stronger playing squad.

"And that is always the main objective, particularly as we were able to stay in the Premier League.

"The job we had to do was helped by the fact that for once, we not only stayed in the same division, but we achieved that with games to spare and we were able to do our business nice and early.

"We were assured of our status after beating Aston Villa here some three weeks before the season ended, so we had just that little bit more time to both plan and to act and that was helpful.

"It's a luxury we haven't really had all that often in the past."