Rekeem Jordan Harper (born 8 March 2000) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home grou ...

. A product of

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

's academy, Harper made his first appearance for the club in August 2017 and later spent time on loan at

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

in 2017 and at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

in 2021. Harper left West Brom to join

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

in June 2021. He spent the second half of the 2021–22 season on loan at

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

and the whole of the 2022–23 season at

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

Club career

West Bromwich Albion

Harper joined

at the age of 12. He spent 5 years in the West Brom academy before making his professional Albion debut on 12 August 2017 as a second-half substitute in the club's 1–0 win over AFC Bournemouth, in doing so becoming only the second

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

player to have been born in the 2000s. On 31 August 2017, Harper signed his first professional contract with the club, a deal to run for two years.

Blackburn Rovers (loan)

On 31 August 2017,

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

signed Harper on loan for the 2017–18 season. He made his first start for Rovers on 12 September 2017 in the club's 1–0 win over Scunthorpe United. He received a red card for a

professional foul In various sports, a professional foul is a deliberate act of foul play intended to bring about an advantage for the perpetrator's team. Professional fouls are usually committed to prevent an opponent from scoring. Various sports contain provisi ...

in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

tie against

on 3 December. He made 9 appearances for Blackburn before returning to West Brom in the New Year.

Return to West Bromwich Albion

After returning to West Brom, Harper made his first appearance of the 2018–19 season in an EFL Cup tie on 14 August, starting in a 1–0 win against

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

. He scored the first senior goal of his career on 27 April 2019, a 79-minute winner in a 2–1 win over

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

in Albion's final home game of the 2018–19 season. He made 23 appearances over the course of the season, scoring once, helping West Brom to qualify for the EFL Championship play-offs following a 4th league placed finish. His performances during the season earned him the club's Young Player of the Year award. In July 2019 he signed a new three-year contract with West Brom. Harper made his first appearance of the 2019–20 season as a second-half substitute in the opening match of the season, a 2–1 win against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. Harper found regular game time limited during the season, making 4 starts and 6 substitute appearances in the league and helping West Brom to win promotion to the Premier League following a 2nd place finish in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

. He made 13 appearances in total during the season. Following West Brom's return to the Premier League, Harper made his first appearance of the season on the opening match day, coming on as a substitute in a 0–3 loss to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. He scored his first goal of the season in the following match against

Harrogate Town Harrogate Town A.F.C. is a professional association football club in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the Sulphurites, due to the ...

in an EFL Cup second round tie on 16 September, scoring Albion's opening goal in a 3–0 win with a shot from outside the 18-yard box. His only other appearance for West Brom during the 2020–21 season came as a substitute in a 0–4 loss against Arsenal on 2 January.

Birmingham City (loan)

Harper joined Championship club

on loan on 21 January 2021 for the remainder of the 2020–21 season. He made his debut as a second-half substitute on 30 January in a 1–1 draw with

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

. He made 18 appearances in all during his time on loan at Birmingham.

Ipswich Town

On 25 June 2021, Harper joined

for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of £500,000. He signed a three-year contract with the club, with the option of a further one-year extension. He made his debut for the club in the first game of the season against Morecambe on 7 August.

Crewe Alexandra (loan)

On 31 January 2022, Harper joined fellow League One side

on loan for the remainder of the 2021–22 season.

Exeter City (loan)

Harper joined League One side

on a season-long loan on 24 August 2022.

International career

Harper was born in England of Jamaican descent. In February 2017, he represented England U17 in matches against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In September 2018, he started for England Under-19 against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Career statistics

Honours

West Bromwich Albion * EFL Championship runner-up: 2019–20 Individual *

Young Player of the Year: 2018–19

References

External links

Rekeem Harper profile
at the Ipswich Town F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Harper, Rekeem 2000 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Black British sportsmen English people of Jamaican descent