Luke Hatfield and Joseph Masi discussed all things West Bromwich Albion on the latest edition of the Express and Star’s Baggies Broadcast podcast and during the show, they spent some time talking about Rekeem Harper.
The Baggies suffered a 3-0 defeat to Leicester City in their opening game of the 2020/21 Premier League campaign.
Harper didn’t start the game, but he did come on as a substitute in the 69th minute when he replaced Darnell Furlong with Albion trailing the Foxes by just a goal.
The midfielder played one accurate long ball, completed one successful dribble and made one interception during his time on the pitch, as per WhoScored.
However, despite that, Masi shared some uncertainty over how ready the 20-year-old is to make the step up to the Premier League this term during this recent edition of the Express and Star’s Baggies Broadcast podcast.
He said: “With the greatest respect to Rekeem Harper, he’s a young kid, he didn’t play an awful lot last season; if Rekeem Harper wasn’t pushing for a regular starting spot in the Championship, what’s to say he’s ready for the Premier League?
“I think he’s got a lot of potential, Rekeem Harper, but it’s a big ask to ask him to be starting games in the Premier League now.”
Is Rekeem Harper good enough to start in the Premier League?
YES
NO
TIF Thoughts…
So, as can be seen in what the journalist had to say, it seems as though he believes that Harper may not be ready to play a key role for West Brom in the Premier League.
This may be understandable when you consider that the Baggies academy graduate had played just 20 minutes of football in England’s top flight prior to the beginning of the 2020/21 campaign and made just 10 Championship appearances for Albion last season, which is fewer appearances than 21 other Baggies players made in England’s second tier last term.
With all of that in mind, we feel that Masi is right in saying that “it’s a big ask to ask him to be starting games in the Premier League now.”