Some West Brom fans have been praising 19-year-old Rekeem Harper for delivering an impressive performance in the Baggies’ midweek 2-0 Championship win over Preston North End.
Harper had not started a single Championship game this season for the Baggies prior to Tuesday’s game. According to Transfermarkt.co.uk, the 19-year-old had earned just 23 minutes in the Championship this season, from four substitute appearances.
However, Harper earned his first Championship start of the season in their recent Championship clash, taking the place of the suspended Romaine Sawyers in midfield, following the 28-year-old’s red card in the Baggies’ previous Championship fixture versus Bristol City.
According to WhoScored.com, Harper made one key pass, one successful tackle and maintained an 83.9% pass success percentage in Tuesday’s game, earning an average overall rating of 7.06 on Whoscored.
Indeed, his performance and his post-match comments had many West Brom fans talking about him on Twitter.
Should Rakeem Harper keep his place in West Brom's midfield?YES, HARPER DESERVES TO KEEP HIS PLACE FOLLOWING TUESDAY'S GAME
NO, HARPER SHOULD RETURN TO THE BENCH WHEN SAWYERS IS ELIGIBLE TO RETURN
|
Great player ???
— Michael Farmer (@baggieboyfarmer) February 26, 2020
My MOTM last night. He was fantastic and very unfortunate not to score with the lobbed effort which hit the crossbar. Very unlucky. Looking forward to seeing more of him against Wigan.
— BaggieBoy93 (@BaggieGamer) February 26, 2020
Very assured performance, slotted in to the midfield like he’d been there all season ?? in reality a difficult thing to do but made it look easy ?? fair play Rekeem ?
— Jay Hickman (@HurricaneHic147) February 26, 2020
Brillaint 90 minutes from the best young midfield talent in the Midlands ?
— Brunt’s Left Boot (@BenS_2003) February 26, 2020
Thought he played very well. Slaven seems to of inspired him.
— Jimmy Quickfeet (@Blackjack42B) February 26, 2020
Rekeem Harper is better than Romaine Sawyers
— (@RekeemTheDream2) February 25, 2020
Played brilliantly, should’ve had that goal to top off his performance ??
— Jack ?? (@Jackmaywba) February 26, 2020
What do we think?
Harper may have raised his stock among some Baggies supporters by making the most of his first Championship start of the season. The 19-year-old’s overall Whoscored rating of 7.06 for Tuesday’s game is a higher overall average rating than the suspended Sawyers managed to achieve in any of his last three Championship appearances. The 19-year-old may have given Baggies manager Slaven Bilic something to think about moving forward following Tuesday’s performance.