Aston Villa are set to hire West Brom’s academy manager Mark Harrison, according to Telegraph journalist John Percy.
The reporter claimed via his personal Twitter account on Tuesday that Harrison will take up a similar role at Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training ground after spending 13 years in charge of West Brom’s youth.
Bit of #avfc transfer news, of sorts: Villa are recruiting Mark Harrison, West Brom’s academy manager of 13 years, to take a similar role at Bodymoor Heath. #wba
— John Percy (@JPercyTelegraph) June 11, 2019
Harrison has over-seen the emergence of some decent players during his time in charge of the Baggies’ academy with Kemar Roofe, Izzy Brown, Romaine Sawyers, Sam Field, Rekeem Harper and Tyler Roberts rising through the ranks in the Black Country to become professional players in the top two divisions.
OPINION
It has been blow after blow for West Brom in the last couple of years and while this is not something that will immediately have an impact on the first team squad, it is something that could surely have an affect in the future. West Brom have developed some very good players during Harrison’s reign as academy manager and Aston Villa have done very well to snatch him away from their West Midlands rivals. Mark Jenkins and Luke Dowling are currently pre-occupied with finding a new first team manager for the Black Country club, but they will now also have to find a replacement for Harrison, which will not be an easy feat. It is something that will have to take the backseat for now though because there are bigger concerns at The Hawthorns. The manager issue needs to be resolved as soon as possible while there is a major change on the cards for the playing squad.