West Brom's Cedric Kipre hopes dashed as agreement reached with top flight club | OneFootball

The impressive centre-back moved on from the Baggies following the expiration of his contract this summer.

Cedric Kipre is set to join Ligue 1 side Stade de Reims after leaving West Bromwich Albion as a free agent this summer.

Sky Sports have stated that the central defender will complete the move at some point this week, with transfer expert Fabrizio Romano revealing that his medical is booked for Thursday.

Kipre's contract was always an issue that was on the minds of those associated with Albion. His emergence as a top defender in the Championship last season attracted a lot of attention, especially since he was set to be free to choose his next destination this summer.

The Ivorian, Kyle Bartley and Alex Mowatt were all offered new deals at the end of the season. The latter two have both extended their stays, signing one-year and two-year contract respectively. Both contracts can be extended by a further 12 months if both players hit an unspecified appearance goal.

Kipre, however, is the one who looks set to move on, and he's scheduled to join a top flight team in the nation of his birth - France.

Kipre is set to become the newest member of Will Still's old team. The young boss was heavily linked to jobs in England, and was close to joining Sunderland, before changing his mind - he ended up becoming the new head coach of RC Lens instead.

Sky Sports have reported that Reims had to beat off other teams on the continent and in England to get the 27-year-old to come to them.

The Express and Star stated that Premier League newcomers Ipswich Town, as well as clubs in Germany and France, were looking to snap up the ex-Wigan Athletic man's services this summer.

That interest from France has come to fruition, with Kipre's future now set to be with Reims.

Summer transfer window is yet to live up to the hype for West Brom

This summer hasn't been action-packed so far for the Baggies. A lot of the noise has centred around players that may be leaving.

Brandon Thomas-Asante has reportedly attracted the eye of Southampton, and Okay Yokuslu looks set to leave the club, with Hull City and teams in Turkey said to be interested.

Full-back Darnell Furlong has hinted that West Bromneed more additions to be able to mount another promotion push next time out.

They have also recently missed out on a potential midfield target in Cameron Brannagan. The League One promotion winner is set to sign a new deal with Oxford United, snubbing apparent interest from Albion, as per Football Insider.

Supporters seemed to always understand that, under the previous ownership, Carlos Corberan was handicapped because of the lack of spending power. He has still done incredibly well with what he had to work with, but it'd take something extra special to get them to where they want to be: back in the Premier League.

Considering they finished fifth in the league last time, it doesn't seem like he'd need too much of a helping hand; just a little extra push may do.

Now those monetary burdens are gone. Shilen Patel's arrival as the new chairman of the club brought a new sense of optimism - a multi-millionaire who seems very willing to give Corberan the tools that he needs to succeed.

That willingness from Patel's side is probably still there. Unfortunately, it hasn't been really represented by anything so far this summer.

Sure, they've brought in some potentially neat players like Ousmane Diakite, Torbjorn Heggem and Joe Wildsmith, but there's not been that firecracker to really make people excited.

Fantasies about what the Spaniard was going to be able to do with a proper budget may be starting to fade out of the minds who dreamed about what could be to come.

There is still time for things to change, but West Brom fans would probably much rather that change came sooner rather than later.