MATTHEW BATES last night admitted he turned down Premier League offers to stay with Middlesbrough after listening to his heart.

The 22-year-old defender, who can also play in midfield, signed a new three-year contract yesterday after verbally agreeing to the improved terms a couple of weeks ago.

West Ham and Wigan had offered Bates the chance of a quick return to the top-flight, while there had also been tentative interest from Everton.

But Middlesbrough made a substantially improved offer to keep the young prospect, and Bates decided to commit his future to his boyhood club after talking things over with his family.

“I’ve made the right decision in the end, albeit a difficult one,” said Bates. “I had the option to stay in the Premier League because there were several other clubs interested, but I feel staying with Middlesbrough was the right thing for me. It’s my local club, I’ve been here since I was a young lad and I’m happy here.

“I’ll be honest, there were times when I thought I would be leaving. I wanted to stay in the Premier League, of course I did, but no one at the club wants to be in the Championship.

But despite the interest from other clubs, I always wanted to stay here.

“It was about listening to my heart. I want to further my career but this club stood by me through my injuries, so now I’m focused on helping Boro win promotion. The aim for the club is to ensure we spend only one season in the Championship.”

During the weeks building up to the end of last season there were growing fears that Bates would follow Ross Turnbull, who joined Chelsea this week, out of the Riverside Stadium when his contract expired.

However, having made the decision to stay, the Stocktonborn Middlesbrough Academy graduate is looking ahead to the return for pre-season training on Monday, when he will be joined by new signing Mark Yeates.

Yeates, a £500,000 capture from Colchester, is manager Gareth Southgate’s only new recruit of the summer, but Bates is satisfied promotion can still be achieved next season.

“We can definitely go up,”

he said. “The players that we’ve signed and some of those we’re looking at have done it at this level and know what it’s all about. I also like the fact that the likes of Mark Yeates are goalscorers because we struggled with goals last year. Despite the fact that we went down, I thought the defence was okay last season, but we didn’t score enough.

“We’ve still got a good squad here. If we can keep most of it together and bond them with new signings and young lads coming through, I think we can do really well.”

■ Middlesbrough kick off their pre-season with a trip to League Two Macclesfield Town on July 18, kick off 3pm.