By the time this season ends, Jack Harrison will have been an Everton player for two full seasons, if only on loan from Leeds United. But on that record, and on rumours from albeit dubious ‘sources’, it may signal the end of the line for his Everton career.
Everton are not expected to convert the extended loan arrangement into a permanent deal. An expected new face as sporting director is still to be announced but it is suspected that The Friedkin Group will be looking to change the approach when it comes to what could be a substantial squad rebuild, given the number of loan players and those who will be out of contract.
Harrison clearly puts in the effort in every game he plays. But the problem really is in terms of execution: care and accuracy in his key final-ball deliveries continue to be frustrating qualities that are largely absent from the winger’s repertoire of over-hit or poorly directed crosses.
The consensus is that he did well at Leeds Utd, who hold his registration, and was “too good to go down” with them into the Championship when they were relegated in May 2023. But for Everton, he managed only 4 goals and 3 assists last season in 35 appearances.
This season, these brutal statistics underline his abject failure to contribute effectively to the bottom line: in 27 appearances so far this season, he is yet to score or provide a single assist. Not much of a return for someone who is somehow one of the highest-paid players in the squad. But apparently he tracks back and does his bit for the defence…
The Stoke-born wide man had developed a reputation as one of the Yorkshire club’s best players as they were promoted back to the Premier League under Marcelo Bielsa’s swashbuckling tenure in 2020 and he remained as such during their 3-year stay in the top flight before they were relegated back to the Championship.
But there was a clause in his contract allowing him to leave Elland Road should Leeds lose their Premier League status but, in a far to common trend of Everton engaging the services of obviously injured players, Harrison was carrying a hip injury at the time that was expected to sideline him for anywhere from 3 to 5 weeks.
Jack had to wait to make his Everton debut due to that pre-existing hip problem but was named in the starting XI to face Aston Villa away in the Carabao Cup 3rd Round in late September 2023, a game which Everton won handsomely.
He scored his first goal for the Blues in a 3-0 home triumph over Bournemouth the following month, an instinctive first-time effort that he swept under the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area, but would add just two more in the Premier League and one of them was a highly-fortuitous rebound off a touch from Dominic Calvert-Lewin that might otherwise have gone in.
On the whole, playing wide on the right when he had played primarily on the left flank for Leeds, Harrison didn’t offer the kind of offensive output that many Evertonians had expected based on his career before joining the Toffees but his workrate and ability to track back made him an important member of the team that avoided relegation with games to spare in 2023-34 despite having eight points deducted by the Premier League for PSR breaches.
His contribution this season has been marked by tremendous endeavour and no lack of enthusiasm for the task. But his abject failure to deliver anything of note all season long must mean, in the cruel world of Premier League football, his time is up.
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