‘He could be a star’ – Many West Brom fans rave about fringe player v Preston
Rekeem Harper was handed his first Championship start of the season by Slaven Bilic on Tuesday night as West Brom won 2-0 against Preston at The Hawthorns.
Romaine Sawyers’ suspension meant that Bilic was forced into making a change to the line-up that beat Bristol City with ease at the weekend and 19-year-old Harper was called on to replace the midfield playmaker.
Although Harper has spent most of the campaign on the fringes of the West Brom first-team or playing for the Under-23s, he played superbly as Albion moved 10 points clear of third place with a routine win over Preston.
According to stats by WhoScored, Harper completed 84 per cent of his passes on Tuesday night and only Filip Krovinovic had a higher success rate out of those who started for both West Brom and Preston.
Harper also made one key pass, one clearance and one tackle as he made his big presence known in the midfield.
The teenager almost came close to scoring for the Baggies in the second half too when a curling effort from the edge of the penalty area struck the crossbar.
Overall it was an impressive return to the starting line-up for Harper and West Brom fans on Twitter were delighted with what they saw.
Here is a selection of their tweets:
https://twitter.com/Richbaggies/status/1232606359910309888
In other West Brom news, suggestions about wages have stunned this player’s representatives as talks are held over new contract.