West Brom midfielder Rekeem Harper’s move to the Blues is set to finally be confirmed following the Baggies’ appointment of a new boss.

Valérien Ismaël was named Albion’s new head coach yesterday after a compensation package was agreed with his former club Barnsley.

As previously reported, West Brom had been unwilling to allow Harper’s switch, which TWTD revealed more than a fortnight ago, to be rubberstamped until the new man was in place. That now being the case an announcement regarding the deal will be made.

The 21-year-old will join the Blues on a three-year contract for an initial fee of around £500,000 with Albion set to receive further top-ups.

Harper came through the ranks at the Hawthorns having joined the club as a 12-year-old.

He was handed his Premier League debut in August 2017 aged only 17 when he became only the second player born in the 2000s to play in the top flight.

The Birmingham-born schemer has gone on to make 17 senior starts - seven in the league - and 14 sub appearances for the Baggies, scoring twice.

Harper, who is 6ft 2in tall, spent time on loan at Blackburn Rovers in 2017/18 and ended last season at Birmingham City.

The former England U17 and U19 international will become the Blues’ third addition of the summer following the recruitment of Wes Burns from Fleetwood and Lee Evans from Wigan.

Yesterday, CEO Mark Ashton said he was “hopeful we’ll have some new names arriving fairly shortly” and it appears with first-team pre-season training starting tomorrow - the extended U23s squad including numerous senior pros having been in for the first time yesterday - Town’s summer recruitment is about ramp up.

Photo: Action Images

arc added 12:29 - Jun 25 I think the big news in this story is that the new "U-23s" were in yesterday. Can we please have a news story about that and who was present. It would be good to understand what is going on right now! :-)
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Monkey_Blue added 12:48 - Jun 25 What if the new manager likes Harper? I assume he's been told he has no choice on this deal?
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planetblue_2011 added 12:50 - Jun 25 At last welcome aboard Rakeem👍
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markchips added 14:48 - Jun 25 Would be good to get this finalised . Athletic, robust footballer exactly in the Cook mould.
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Bluearmy_81 added 16:06 - Jun 25 Not really news, just a way of getting more hits as fans look in every hour to see if it's been confirmed. The only news from where we were at is he's signed/it's official
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gosblue added 16:48 - Jun 25 Show us your shirt Rekeem.
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Help added 17:51 - Jun 25 It would appear PC is going for players who are capable of playing in more than one position.
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Gforce added 18:20 - Jun 25 What will happen if Ismael looks at a few videos of Harper, likes what he sees and decides to keep him.
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Marshalls_Mullet added 18:27 - Jun 25 First reference to this signing was seen in carvings at Sutton Hoo.
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