Winger Jack Harrison has re-joined Leeds United from Manchester City on loan for a second successive season following his season long loan in 2018-2019. The del also has an option to make the signing a permanent next summer. Born in Stoke Harrison spent his youth career at Manchester United before moving to the United States where he had spells at Manhattan SC then New York. Harrison signed for Manchester City from New York, where he made 56 MLS appearances, in January 2018 but has yet to play a game for the Manchester side. After a relatively unsuccessful loan at Middlesbrough his first real chance to impress in English football came last season at Leeds United.
Initially used off the bench Harrison became a regular in Marcelo Bielsa’s side. He made his debut during the opening game of the season against his hometown club Stoke City as an 89th minute substitute. He made his first start for Leeds in the EFL Cup against Bolton, his first league start coming at the end of August deputising for the injured Pablo Hernandez against Middlesbrough. In 38 Championship appearances, 5 as a substitute, he scored 4 goals and had 3 assists to his name. The most memorable being his incredible defence beating pass to setup Kemar Roofe as Leeds opened the scoring in the first leg of their playoff semi-final against Derby.
It’s fair to say a large number of Leeds fans were not convinced by Harrison last season. He didn’t demonstrate an ability to beat a man in the way shown by Jack Clarke in his cameo performance and his choice and quality of final ball were often questioned. But he is a player who improved over the season, looking at his best when playing in front of Gjanni Alioski on the left hand side. Last season was Harrisons first full year in the English league and under Marcelo Bielsa’s tutorage. With last years’ experience and a full pre-season behind him we could see Harrison step up to the next level next season. It’s clear Marcelo Bielsa sees something many Leeds fans do not.