Ipswich Town agree mutual contract termination with former England youth international Rekeem Harper
Ipswich Town and Rekeem Harper have agreed to a mutual parting of the ways.
The midfielder, who joined the Tractor Boys from West Bromwich Albion in June 2021, had one season remaining on his deal.
However, having made just 19 appearances for the club across the previous two campaigns, a decision has been reached that will free the 23-year-old up to find himself a new club.
Harper, who had loan spells with Crewe Alexandra and Exeter City during his time at Portman Road, last featured for Ipswich in the 1-0 EFL Cup defeat to Colchester United in August 2022.
The former England Under-19 international is the second departure from Ipswich in as many days after forward Gassan Ahadme sealed a season-long switch to Cambridge United.
Ipswich Town take significant action regarding 23-year-old midfielder
Rekeem Harper was a six-figure signing from West Brom two years ago, but now he has been let go by the Tractor Boys
Kieran McKenna and the people above him in the board room at Portman Road put together a talented squad on a pretty big budget for League One level in order to secure promotion to the Championship, but there have been some flops along the way.
Additions from the summer of 2022 such as Greg Leigh and Panutche Camara have barely featured, whilst there are players who arrived the year prior under the management of Paul Cook that have been truly forgotten about.
A few of those did not last too long such as Tom Carroll, Matt Penney and Scott Fraser, whilst Joe Pigott is still on the books but out of favour.
Another player who was signed two years ago who has failed to make an impact is Rekeem Harper, who arrived at the Tractor Boys with plenty of potential.
However, his time at Ipswich Town is officially over as there has been a mutual agreement between the club and the 23-year-old midfielder to terminate his contract a year early.
The signing of Jack Taylor from Peterborough United this week meant that Town had NINE midfielders on the books, so inevitably there were going to be outgoings – and Harper is one of those to leave.
What happened to Rekeem Harper at Ipswich Town?
Harper signed a three-year deal under Paul Cook in 2021 after a £500,000 deal was agreed with West Bromwich Albion, although Ipswich had an extenion in their favour to extend it until 2025 should they have wished.
Having featured 42 times for the Baggies and a further 27 times in loan stints at Blackburn Rovers and Birmingham City, Harper had a decent amount of experience at a good level for a 21-year-old, but he failed to show anything for Ipswich.
Harper played 18 times in the first half of the 2021-22 season for Town, but when McKenna arrived as head coach in December, the young central midfielder was not fancied and was sent out on loan to Crewe for the remainder of the campaign.
Still down the pecking order at Portman Road going into last season, Harper played once in the EFL Cup before being sent to Exeter City for the season, and he wasn’t even a regular with the Grecians as he played just 20 times – 13 of them from the start.
And with a backlog of players to deal with in the engine room, Ipswich have decided to let Harper move on and find himself a new club ahead of the 2023-24 season.
What’s next for Rekeem Harper?
Considering he’s failed to really make an impact at three clubs in League One over the last two years, Harper may now have to drop into League Two to continue his career.
A League One outfit may take a punt on him in the hope that they can get him refocused as there’s clearly talent there – you don’t play that many times for West Brom as a youngster at Premier League and Championship level if you’re not talented.
There could even be a pathway for Harper in the Scottish Premiership, but it’s fair to say regardless his sights will be lowered from the top end of League One and more towards mid-table or the bottom of it.
