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 uh footage this week of the players back in training

00:04uh they're they're very recently back in they're out on the pitch uh one notable face albeit very

00:12much in the background in the images and videos that we saw was uh jack harrison who of course

00:19has returned to the club following two loan spells at everton um with both of which didn't

00:26go down particularly well uh with the fan base um you have written in your newsletter this week

00:33uh which people can subscribe to on your treatment post.co.uk forward slash newsletter slash premium

00:43which is a bit of a mouthful and i didn't even look down to see that either

00:48you've written about about jack harrison's uh status and and you know the potential for for

00:55what could could happen to him um very briefly without giving away what is in the newsletter

01:00for all the people who have subscribed already to it um where are we with with harrison

01:08well he's back he's a leeds united player unlike all leeds united players he's expected to train

01:13there was never any suggestion that he wasn't going to report back and we've seen that with

01:17a few players across the continent this summer when they're looking at getting moves away they're saying

01:21i won't be coming back for pre-season training that hasn't been the case with jack harrison

01:26he's come back his presence was very much soft launched by leads in the media clips that they've

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

01:36background of 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

01:47for 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 leads put out last summer to say he was going back to everton um none of none of anything

02:09that happened over the last two years pointed towards a happy reunion you know it never seemed to

02:13be anyone's plan that jack harrison would come back and be a league united player there didn't seem

02:18to be an appetite on either side for that but this is where they all find themselves so they've got to

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

02:28he'll be on the 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 league united future

02:39because we've had players i mean crescencio somerville trained out in germany last summer

02:45and it 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 georginio ruter um 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 pressing

03:04daniel farka on whether or not jack harrison is actually in his plans um i would imagine the way

03:10i see it playing out is that everyone at leeds including harrison will act as if he's going to

03:15play for leeds until such a time as an offer comes in either a loan that gets a big big big chunk of a

03:22very healthy wage off the books or what would make perfect sense is a permanent exit and a sale

03:28um but we discussed that in the ps psr position that is required uh in the newsletter this week and

03:36um yeah let's let's wait and see on that one again just sticking with with jack for a moment and again

03:43without giving too much away um about what's in the newsletter part of the issue now is really that

03:51aside from the fact that that he left two seasons in a row on on particularly bad terms he hasn't exactly

03:58ripped it up with everton has he since he since he has left and now he's he's found himself honestly

04:03he found himself at a team at a very similar level to to everton and he's already shown that

04:13you know he's not exactly been great in in that position so there's perfectly there are many reasons

04:19for fans not to not to be overly excited about him being back yeah it's one of the real considerations

04:26in all of this is that he's not the player leeds almost sold for 20 million in 2023 he hasn't proven

04:33to be that player for the last two seasons you can say in his defense that he was in a struggling team

04:38but he'll be in a struggling team at leeds you know that that's that's the reality is that leeds will be

04:44fighting against relegation when they start the season as will i don't know 10 12 other teams you

04:49know they'll start the season thinking first and foremost let's stay up so he's not it's not like

04:56he's going to be surrounded by the league's best players who will bring the absolute best out of

05:00him um it's going to be up to each player at leeds next season to to show that they can rise above the

05:07the relegation battle on occasion and prove to be better than the opposition's players and harrison

05:13plainly hasn't proven that he can do that over the last two seasons so that's not to say that he couldn't

05:17have a return to the form that saw him score five and assist seven in his last season at leeds

05:23i think he got eight of each in the season prior to that so in there is a player who can score and

05:28assist at premier league level but it's difficult to convince potential buyers that what they're

05:35getting is a 2022-2023 jack harrison

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