| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper 09:34 - Jun 10 with 1810 views | MaySixth |
Former Baggies players and regular observers – stated gently in public and forcibly in private — that Harper is a footballing rough diamond in need of polishing.
Sound judges speak in glowing terms about his energy, his athleticism, his drive, and his ability to influence games.
But they talk with frustration about his in-game intelligence and nous. In short, they believe Harper runs too much, at the wrong times, into the wrong areas, leaving himself tired and his team exposed.
He will reach the next level in his development only when he learns when to break forward and when to stay put, when to drive at opponents and when to put his foot on the ball, when to chase a game and when to draw the sting from it. |  |
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| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 09:35 - Jun 10 with 1744 views | Swansea_Blue |
Sounds like JET |  |
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| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 09:36 - Jun 10 with 1738 views | vilanovablue |
Could he be the first "moneyball" signing where if we are able to improve him and get promoted that he could then have significant resale value? |  | | |
| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 09:41 - Jun 10 with 1629 views | KTBlue |
I imagine if you are a coach, this is what you dream of, to take a raw talent and mould him into a hopefully very good player who contributes consistently on the pitch. |  | | |
| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 09:41 - Jun 10 with 1633 views | SomethingBlue |
Exactly the sort of stuff you'd hope Cook can instil into him. He's not long turned 21 so definitely has time; the materials are all there. |  |
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| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 09:48 - Jun 10 with 1480 views | Herbivore |
You would expect to hear that about a lot of 21 year old midfielders to be fair. It's a tough role to play and lots to learn. With the right coaching it sounds like he has a lot of potential, whether he fulfils that and whether that's here or not we won't know but at £500k it seems like a gamble worth taking. |  |
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| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 09:48 - Jun 10 with 1472 views | Marshalls_Mullet |
People talk about 'in game intelligence' as if its an easy problem to solve. It really isnt.
Dozzell has all the technical ability in the world but makes wrong choices.
Someone else mentioned JET.
Having said that, I am all for this signing, but getting that in game intelligence into a player isnt easy. |  |
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| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 09:51 - Jun 10 with 1421 views | clive_baker |
That rings true of a lot of players at that age, where it really becomes a pivotal 12-24 months of development to show that its potential that can be channelled correctly, and being a bit smarter about how they do things and the decisions they make on the pitch.
At 19 / 20 you can get away with it, it's perfectly common. At 23 / 24 it's not so clever. Bennetts has a similar challenge, but at £500k the risk is relatively low, we have the opportunity to invest in him with huge upside potential, and if it doesn't work there's probably still some residual resale value at 23 years old. |  |
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| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 09:53 - Jun 10 with 1377 views | BloomBlue |
Reminds me a bit of Keanan Bennetts not much older than Harper, loads of potential talked very highly of by many people when at Spurs, lots of shock he moved to Moönchengladbach, and then seem to go 'missing' for a year or so. Like all youngsters it's can you turn that potential into consistent high level performances |  | | |
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| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 09:55 - Jun 10 with 1341 views | SouperJim |
| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 09:48 - Jun 10 by Marshalls_Mullet |
People talk about 'in game intelligence' as if its an easy problem to solve. It really isnt.
Dozzell has all the technical ability in the world but makes wrong choices.
Someone else mentioned JET.
Having said that, I am all for this signing, but getting that in game intelligence into a player isnt easy. |
I agree, but I would speculate that the gamble is decreased when the player has a lot of athleticism and energy. If you can't coach the intelligence, at least you still have a player who can influence the game with sheer effort. The likes of dozzell and jet are either in the game or almost totally out of it. |  |
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| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 09:56 - Jun 10 with 1307 views | Marshalls_Mullet |
| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 09:55 - Jun 10 by SouperJim |
I agree, but I would speculate that the gamble is decreased when the player has a lot of athleticism and energy. If you can't coach the intelligence, at least you still have a player who can influence the game with sheer effort. The likes of dozzell and jet are either in the game or almost totally out of it. |
Worth the gamble, but not a quick fix.
I guess there is more chance to learn in L1 that higher up. [Post edited 10 Jun 2021 9:56]
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| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 09:57 - Jun 10 with 1293 views | Wallingford_Boy |
Ahhhh the classic "decision making" conondrum.
A coaches worst nightmare and actually very hard to teach.
Coaching technical stuff is one thing, but improving a player's brain is not so easy! |  |
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| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 10:13 - Jun 10 with 1069 views | tractorboy1978 |
| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 09:51 - Jun 10 by clive_baker |
That rings true of a lot of players at that age, where it really becomes a pivotal 12-24 months of development to show that its potential that can be channelled correctly, and being a bit smarter about how they do things and the decisions they make on the pitch.
At 19 / 20 you can get away with it, it's perfectly common. At 23 / 24 it's not so clever. Bennetts has a similar challenge, but at £500k the risk is relatively low, we have the opportunity to invest in him with huge upside potential, and if it doesn't work there's probably still some residual resale value at 23 years old. |
What you would say about Cook is that he will be in no doubt about what he is required to do in that role and he will have 6 weeks of pre-season training to be drilled to the nth degree about positional play, when to break forward etc. | | | |
| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 10:18 - Jun 10 with 998 views | Fixed_It |
| The Athletic view on Rekeem Harper on 10:13 - Jun 10 by tractorboy1978 |
What you would say about Cook is that he will be in no doubt about what he is required to do in that role and he will have 6 weeks of pre-season training to be drilled to the nth degree about positional play, when to break forward etc. |
And I am sure Cook will guide him through games with vocal reminders for 90 minutes!  |  |
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