West Brom have tabled a contract offer to young talent Rekeem Harper after his breakthrough season at the Hawthorns, according to the Express and Star.
The newspaper claim on their website that the 19-year-old, who has made 23 appearances for the senior side this season after just one first team outing prior to the current campaign, has been offered new terms to extend his stay at the club after protracted on-and-off talks.
The midfielder scored his first senior goal for the club against Rotherham in the 2-1 win, but despite appearing in all but one of their last six league games, he was nowhere to be seen in the play-off semi final first leg versus Aston Villa.
Opinion
Harper is definitely one of the club’s most promising talents right now and it is only correct for the club to reward him for his development, not to mention tie him down to a new deal in order to ward off interest from elsewhere. He has been linked with moves to the Premier League and it might well be that he is holding out to see if the Baggies can secure promotion to the top flight before committing to anything. The West Brom board have left it awfully late in the day to try and convince him to pen new terms and it could well backfire on them quite spectacularly. Still, what Harper has got at the Hawthorns is regular playing time, something which is by no means a guarantee for a 19-year-old moving to a Premier League outfit. He needs to decide what is best for his future and if he wants to make it at the very top he needs to be honing his skills and playing first team football week in, week out. That is the argument that West Brom will make and he would be wise to listen.