West Bromwich Albion have struggled in recent matches to string together some positive form in the Championship, as cracks begin to show in Carlos Corberan’s camp.
The Baggies are now winless in their last four games in the league, with the sweet taste of victory evading them throughout October so far, as a trip to Blackburn Rovers awaits the out-of-form West Midlands outfit tomorrow.
Corberan will want plenty more from his troops in the games to follow, as the likes of midfield stars Tom Fellows and Alex Mowatt had quiet games away at Oxford United last time out, with the promotion-chasing side succumbing to a late 1-1 draw.
West Brom could do with a more forceful presence in the middle of the park to try and take games by the scruff of their neck, akin to former Baggies ace Okay Yokuslu, with the Championship club even once dead set on the fact that they had the next Patrick Vieira in their ranks.
West Brom’s next Vieira
Obviously, that is an outlandish tag to put above anyone’s head, with the ex-Arsenal brute a Premier League legend, having notched up a ridiculous 405 appearances for the Gunners across his celebrated stay in North London.
Vieira was known to be a feisty, no-nonsense presence in the middle of the park for his side, alongside also collecting an impressive 32 goals and 50 assists to help Arsene Wenger’s side routinely compete near the summit of the top division.
No pressure on young Rekeem Harper’s shoulders at the Hawthorns, therefore, who was tipped to be a talent similar to the Arsenal great back in 2019, with Harper himself revealing that academy manager Mark Harrison wanted to mould him into a box-to-box midfield presence like the well-known Frenchman:
“I was scoring goals when I was younger but I just wanted to be on the ball a lot more,” explained Harper. “And then academy manager, Mark Harrison, said to me ‘we see you as a midfielder called Patrick Vieira’.
“He said he saw that in me potentially. At first I was naïve, I didn’t really want this but then I thought I like this and I can be involved and I took to it. The last few years I’ve kicked on playing in that position.”
West Brom even pondered about handing Vieira the managerial reins around this time, which could have resulted in Harper exploding into life, but the homegrown Baggies man would end up never living up to his outrageous billing as the second coming of the Gunners legend.
Harper’s time at West Brom
Harper would go on to make an unmemorable 42 appearances for the Baggies in the first-team fold, with just two league appearances coming his way during his final season on the books of his boyhood employers as West Brom wrestled with fighting off relegation from the Premier League.
Only managing a lacklustre return of two goals and one assist too, there wouldn’t have been too many disappointed faces when Harper was moved on to Ipswich Town in the summer of 2021, with the once-promising midfielder failing to live up to the hype that previously surrounded him.
|
Harper’s numbers since leaving West Brom |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Club played for |
Games played |
Goals scored |
Assists |
|
Ipswich |
19 |
0 |
1 |
|
Crewe Alexandra |
15 |
0 |
0 |
|
Burton Albion |
34 |
0 |
1 |
|
Sourced by Transfermarkt |
|||
The now 24-year-old has struggled to breathe life into his playing days away from his old employers too, with the £500k switch to the Tractor Boys not working out for him either, before then finding himself further down the EFL food chain with the likes of Crewe Alexandra and Burton Albion.
Harper even had his contract with the Brewers ripped up this September, after only managing one sub-par season at the Staffordshire outfit, with the midfielder once compared to Vieira just six years ago now unemployed after various failed stints away from West Brom.
He will be on the hunt for a new club to call home soon, with West Brom left to wonder whether they could have got more out of their rising star when he was emerging up the ranks.
Harper was even on the radar of Serie A titans Juventus when he was tipped for great things in the West Midlands as a teenager – with Liverpool also among those interested – but now finds himself clubless, as Corberan and Co aim to nurture the next generation coming through at West Brom in the here and now more successfully.
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West Bromwich Albion never managed to get the best out of this midfield talent.
