Leeds Utd: Jack's Back! Graham Smyth discusses the return to Leeds United of Jack Harrison

Yorkshire Evening Post

He's back...but for how long? Jack Harrison has returned to Leeds United after less-than-stellar loan spells at Everton, and his future with the club is uncertain.  What does the future hold for Harrison? Despite his return to training, fans remain skeptical, especially given his previous departures. Will he be on the flight to Stockholm, or is a permanent exit on the horizon?  Graham Smyth dives into the awkward situation, analyzing Harrison's recent form and what he needs to do to prove himself. Can he rediscover his past form and rise above the relegation battle? Subscribe to the newsletter for the full scoop on this developing situation!  #LeedsUnited #JackHarrison #LUFC #Football

Transcript

00:00So we have seen some footage this week of the players back in training, they're very recently

00:06back in, they're out on the pitch. One notable face, albeit very much in the background in the

00:13images and videos that we saw was Jack Harrison who of course has returned to the club following

00:21two loan spills at Everton, both of which didn't go down particularly well with the fan base.

00:30You have written in your newsletter this week, which people can subscribe to on yorkshireveningpost.co.uk

00:40forward slash newsletter slash premium, which is a bit of a mouthful and I didn't even look down

00:46to see that either. You've written about Jack Harrison's status and the potential for what

00:55could happen to him, very briefly without giving away what is in the newsletter for all the people

01:01who have subscribed already to it. Where are we with Harrison? Well he's back, he's a Leeds United

01:09player and like all Leeds United players he's expected to train. There was never any suggestion

01:14that he wasn't going to report back. We've seen that with a few players across the continent

01:18this summer when they're looking at getting moves away, they're saying I won't be coming

01:22back for pre-season training. That hasn't been the case with Jack Harrison. He's come back,

01:27his presence was very much soft launched by Leeds in the media clips that they've put out. It

01:32wasn't a look Jack's back, it was oh look who's in the background of this shot or the background

01:36of that shot just to kind of, I guess, have it seep out rather than make an announcement,

01:43Jack Harrison's back. It strikes me that there's quite a lot of awkwardness about it

01:48for obvious reasons. Fans in general don't want him back because he twice decided he didn't want

01:54to be at the club, once after relegation and then again last summer. You look at the terse nature of

02:02the statement Leeds put out last summer to say he was going back to Everton. None of anything that

02:09happened over the last two years pointed towards a happy reunion. It never seemed to be anyone's

02:14plan that Jack Harrison would come back and be a Leeds United player. There didn't seem to be an

02:18appetite on either side for that. But this is where they all find themselves so they've got to deal

02:22with it now and it'll be absolutely fascinating to see what happens. I mean we are waiting to see

02:28if he'll be on the flight list for Stockholm this weekend against Manchester United and then involved in

02:34the Germany training camp. I wouldn't necessarily say that that's going to decide his Leeds United

02:38future because we've had players, I mean, Crescensio Somerville trained in Germany last summer

02:45and was no longer a Leeds United player a couple of weeks later. You know, players can be involved

02:50right up to the start of the season and beyond. Jorginho Ruter started the season with Leeds,

02:57did not end the season with Leeds. So it's not a hard and fast rule, but we will certainly be

03:03pressing Daniel Farquhar on whether or not Jack Harrison is actually in his plans.

03:09I would imagine the way I see it playing out is that everyone at Leeds, including Harrison,

03:13will act as if he's going to play for Leeds until such a time as an offer comes in,

03:18either a loan that gets a big, big, big chunk of a very healthy wage off the books,

03:25or what would make perfect sense is a permanent exit and a sale. But we discussed that in the PSR

03:32position that is required in the newsletter this week. And yeah, let's wait and see on that one.

03:39Again, just sticking with Jack for a moment and again, without giving too much away

03:45about what's in the newsletter. Part of the issue now is really that aside from the fact that

03:52that he left two seasons in a row on particularly bad terms, he hasn't exactly ripped it up at Everton,

03:59has he, since he has left. And now he's found himself at a team at a very similar level to Everton.

04:09And he's already shown that, you know, he's not exactly been great in that position.

04:16So there's perfectly, there are many reasons for fans not to, not to be overly excited about him being back.

04:23Yeah. It's one of the real considerations in all of this is that he's not the player Leeds almost sold for

04:3020 million in 2023. He hasn't proven to be that player for the last two seasons.

04:35You can say in his defense that he was in a struggling team, but he'll be in a struggling team at Leeds.

04:41You know, that's, that's the reality is that Leeds will be fighting against relegation when they start

04:46the season, as will, I don't know, 10, 12 other teams, you know, they'll start the season thinking

04:51first and foremost, let's stay up. So he's not, it's not like he's going to be surrounded by the

04:58league's best players who will bring the absolute best out of him. It's going to be up to each player at

05:02Leeds next season to, to show that they can rise above the, the relegation battle on occasion

05:08and prove to be better than the opposition's players. And Harrison plainly hasn't proven that

05:14he can do that over the last two seasons. So that's not to say that he couldn't have a return

05:18to the form that saw him score five and assist seven in his last season at Leeds. Um, I think

05:23he got eight of each in the season prior to that. So in there is a player who can score and assist at

05:28premier league level, but it's difficult to convince potential buyers that what they're getting is a

05:362022, 2023 Jack Harrison.

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