Aston Villa are set to poach a key member of local rivals West Brom's backroom staff this summer, according to John Percy of the Telegraph.

He reports that the Baggies academy manager Mark Harrison will make the switch across Birmingham to take up a similar role in Aston Villa's Premier League set-up.

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Under his management at the Hawthorns in recent seasons, Harrison has helped the likes of Rekeem Harper, Jonathan Leko and Kyle Edwards make the step-up from academy to first-team and will likely be tasked with a similar role at Villa Park.

It will leave West Brom with yet another hole to fill this summer with the hunt for the club's next first-team manager still ongoing as well.

Last week, former West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic was touted as the favourite for the job after meeting with the club's owners but little else has been heard on the matter since.

Whoever does come in to take over first-team matters will have a tricky summer awaiting them with a huge wage budget needing to be trimmed, according to the Express and Star, making next season a very difficult one to call for the Baggies.

The verdict 

This is yet another sizeable blow for West Brom.

The academy at their disposal was one of the few bright spots that fans were clinging onto last season so to lose a key member of its set-up will be a big concern.

There is now an awful lot of work to do at the Hawthorns this summer and it would take a brave person to bet on where they will finish next season.