Harper: 'I'm a fearless player who wants to excite people'

The 21-year-old midfielder arrives from Championship club West Brom for an undisclosed fee, believed to be an initial £500k with the potential to rise to £1m.

"I would describe myself as an energetic player," he told the club website, after penning a three-year deal.

"I love to attack and I love to defend. I love to be on the ball and obviously I would like to score more goals and create goals. I feel like they are strengths of mine anyway.

"I’m a fearless player who wants to excite people and bring results to the football club and help the team with whatever I can do on the pitch."

He continued: "Paul (Cook) said he likes to play football. He likes young, hungry and energetic players who like to attack, defend and just be aggressive. One of the most important things for me is that he likes to give his players confidence. I feel like, to get the best out of myself, confidence is a massive thing so Paul just sounded like the perfect character.

"I’ve never been outside of Birmingham really so it’s a massive change for me. I’m willing to make that sacrifice to improve my career and go in the direction I want to go. I’m very motivated and I feel like making this move goes to show this. I can’t wait to get settled and get started with the team."

Blues boss Cook said: "I would like to thank our owners and Mark (Ashton) for backing us with the amount of signings we need to make.

"I said that now Mark was at the club, I think we’d have players come in. I’m delighted with the deals we have done. The supporters can be excited about the players we have brought in and the ones we hopefully will bring in.

"Rekeem is one of those. He has many attributes needed to become a top player but, most importantly, he’s aware of how hard he has to work to get there."