Manchester City have signed West Bromwich Albion’s 16-year-old Morgan Rogers in a deal worth around £4m and overseen at the highest levels by director of football Txiki Begiristain.

Rogers, who will have to wait 17 days to sign his professional deal on his 17th birthday, was having a medical at the clubs training ground today.

His acquisition is one of the highest fees paid for a boy of his age by a Premier League club in recent years and was pursued on the insistence of Begiristain. The Spaniard would not usually get involved in academy recruitment but regarded Rogers’ signing as a priority.

The extent of the fee is not yet know but it is expected to be in excess of £4m. There has been major competition among Europe’s top clubs for the 2003-born cohort of English players, many of whom have rejected scholarships at their childhood clubs.

Louie Barry, also 16, has rejected a scholarship at West Brom to take a similar deal with a professional contract attached at Barcelona. He was the subject of competition with Paris Saint Germain interested. Clubs outside England are able to acquire scholar age players for relatively small Fifa compensation fees.

The same is not the case when they move within the English game. The deal to take Harvey Elliott, 16, to Liverpool after he rejected a scholarship at Fulham is expected to be significant.