Inside Craig Dawson staying at West Ham – Playing through injuries and living up North

West Ham have held onto Craig Dawson amid concerns he was going to leave the club.

Fans were worried the cult hero was going to move to a Premier League further up North so he could be closer to his family.

But after a deal for Dawson’s replacement, Jan Bednarek became unavailable – the Hammers refused to let him go.

Craig Dawson will remain at West Ham until at least January but he wanted to go despite loving the club.

The centre-back wished to leave David Moyes’ side so he could spend more time with his family, who still live up North.

Dawson is from Rochdale, near Manchester, and his wife and children still live in the area with him.

This means Dawson travels down to the Rush Green training ground multiple times a week and he has grown tired of the commute. Especially with the European games Dawson can spend a long time travelling and away from home.

He knows he is love by West Ham supporters and is loved by Moyes, on top of being thankful to the club for giving him some of the highlights of his career as he played a key part as the Hammers qualified for Europe two seasons in a row and made the Europa League semi-final.

But teams for the Midlands wanted him, such as Aston Villa, Wolves and Leicester all reportedly interested in the 32-year-old. He has just one-year remaining on his West Ham contract so the club were open to let him go if he could’ve been replaced – but a transfer did not materialise and he will have to stay in London.

His minutes could be restricted following the signings of Nayef Aguerd and Thilo Kehrer, especially with the German impressing so far in claret and blue.

However, Dawson is a model professional and he is not expected to kick up a fuss about not getting his move away.

On top of his commitment to travel down for training he also played on through injuries last season.

Around the busy Christmas period, West Ham had a number of crucial games amid a centre-back crisis with Angelo Ogbonna and Kurt Zouma out injured.

Dawson took painkillers and battled pain to continue playing when the team needed him most.

This level of resilience and determination is why he is adored by West Ham fans and appreciated by everyone at the club.

When he signed from Watford on an initial loan before moving permanently for just £2million, who would have predicted he would become such a success.

Ballon D’awson may leave West Ham in January but he will be at the club until then at least and when he does eventually leave he will go down as a fan’s favourite.