West Brom could lose Rekeem Harper for £235k compensation as Celtic join race

The 19-year-old is out of contract this summer, and the Baggies have made their second and final offer which they believe is extremely competitive for a player of his age and experience.

But Harper is yet to agree to the deal and travelled north on Sunday to watch Celtic lift the Scottish Premiership trophy in their final league game of the season before being given a VIP tour.

Harper was reportedly tracked by Celtic’s head of recruitment Lee Congerton before he reunited with Brendan Rodgers at Leicester.

Celtic boss Neil Lennon was also at Albion’s play-off semi-final second leg with Villa to watch the teenager, who came off the bench in the second half.

Albion will receive a compensation fee if Harper leaves on a free transfer this summer.

If he joins Celtic, the Scottish club will be ordered to pay the Baggies Fifa’s standard international compensation package of £235,000.

If he signs for another English club, the fee will be determined by the Professional Football Compensation Committee (PFCC).

The PFCC have made a couple of landmark rulings in the past, ordering Chelsea to pay Manchester City £6.5m for Daniel Sturridge and Liverpool to give Burnley £8m for Danny Ings.

But they were special cases when a transfer fee was unable to be negotiated and the majority of their rulings order compensation fees much lower.

For example, Villa were ordered to pay Norwich City compensation of £450,000 up front plus an extra £500,000 based on appearances for goalkeeper Jed Steer after the Canaries developed him for 11 years.

The figure does not take into account market value, but is merely compensation for training and coaching.

Harper has been at the Baggies since he was 11-years-old, and was converted from a striker into a central midfielder by academy manager Mark Harrison.

He made his breakthrough into the first team in January this year and has played 23 times for the senior side this season.