View: West Brom player frozen out by Bilic must regret summer decision
One player who West Brom fans have barely seen this season is teenager Rekeem Harper.
The 19-year-old was a mainstay of the midfield for large parts of last season when Darren Moore and Jimmy Shan were in charge of the Baggies but since Slaven Bilic’s arrival at The Hawthorns, the Birmingham-born midfielder has just one league appearance to his name.
Harper came off the bench for the last six minutes of the win against Nottingham Forest on the opening day of the Championship season back in August but has not taken to the pitch in the league since then.
In fact, Harper has not even made a matchday squad in the Championship since being an unused substitute against Millwall on the second day of the campaign.
Harper has been well and truly frozen out by Bilic and is now firmly back in the Under-23s squad, having played six Premier League 2 fixtures this term.
It is crazy to think that only last season, Harper was being linked with moves away from the Black Country.
The Mirror reported that as the midfielder closed in on the expiry of his contract, Liverpool and Tottenham were looking at prying him away from The Hawthorns while Serie A giants Juventus had even been interested.
It was also reported by Football Insider that Celtic had offered a contract to Harper but in the end, the teenager ended up agreeing new terms at West Brom.
He must be regretting that decision now.
Harper was playing regularly last season and appeared in 27 first-team matches across all competitions, scoring one goal and supplying one assist in the process from the centre of the midfield.
Yet now, he is not even on the fringes of the first-team – he has been relegated to the Under-23s by Bilic.
In other West Brom news, Darren Bent has offered a warning to the Baggies about this summer signing.