The 49-year-old, whose official title is head of junior recruitment, was approached by Jose Mourinho and the United board about a role at Old Trafford last week.

Hopcroft is responsible for finding some of Albion's most promising youngsters of recent seasons including Saido Berahino, Jonathan Leko and Sam Field.

Reports had emerged suggesting the scout had agreed a deal to join the Red Devils.

But the Express & Star understands no agreement has been reached with Hopcroft keen to remain in the West Midlands, while boss Tony Pulis is keen to keep him at The Hawthorns.

"I have had a chat with Steve," Pulis said.

"He has been made an offer by Manchester United but the club are trying to do the best they possibly can to keep him here. It would be a massive miss if he goes because he has brought some unbelievable talent into this club.

"They tell me our under 15s and 16s are the best group of players this club has had.

"He's an old-fashioned scout. He gets out there and picks them.

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"He's got a great eye for selecting players. He is very important to the club."

As well hunting for new players, Hopcroft also helped set up a shadow academy at Albion – with the aim to catch players who slip through the net.

Meanwhile, new recruit Nacer Chadli insists he has no qualms about leaving Tottenham to start a new life at The Hawthorns.

While Spurs are expected to battle it out for a Champions League place, Albion look destined to spend the majority of the season in mid-table.

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But for Chadli, the most important thing is playing games.

"The most important thing for me is to play with a good group and win as many games as possible," he said.

"For a football player that is the most important thing, you want to win, you want to get the pleasure on the pitch, that's what you need.

"For me it was important to come to a club where I can play and get my football back.

"That's why I came here.

"At Tottenham it's difficult, there's lots of competition there. It's difficult to get a first starting XI place in that side. That's why I moved."

The Belgian attacker also a number of other clubs were interested in his services.

"A few teams wanted to sign me," he added. "I won't tell you which ones. But it was about price and some of them were too slow.

"I didn't want to wait until the last day so I chose West Brom three days from the end."