Scouting Report: Jack Harrison

Every few years in America, a player emerges onto the scene after an illustrious college career. Jack Harrison is the opposite. Before his college career, many people already knew of his immense talent. Harrison, who grew up in Bolton, England, spent 7 years in the Manchester United academy before moving to America at 14. Now, why on earth would a promising young footballer want to leave the Manchester United academy for America?

The answer lies in risk-averse parenting. Jack and his mother decided that he should have a fallback plan just in case football didn’t work out for him. In his case, the fallback plan was to move to America and study at Berkshire School because of the higher level of education. She must have had no idea how amazing her son would turn out. When he entered the 2016 MLS SuperDraft, New York City FC manager Patrick Vieira did everything he could to secure Jack. Unfortunately, Jack picked up an injury that sidelined him for the first three months of the season. Was it a blessing in disguise? While recovering from his pelvic injury, he shared the road to recovery with one of his idols growing up, Frank Lampard. The two have become good friends, and Jack has acknowledged that Frank taught him a lot. Frank, along with Vieira and David Villa, all speak highly of the New York City prospect.

“He’s a great kid. He has a really good attitude,” said Lampard. “I think when you see that in young players, that kind of rubs off on everybody, and is a statement to the young players like Jack, not because he’s English, but he’s just brought a real energy to the locker room, to the field.”

Jack Harrison started his debut season as a 19-year-old kid in a team full of European icons that he watched growing up. The Mancunian prospect debuted in an embarrassing 7-0 thrashing vs. crosstown rivals New York Red Bulls. MLSSoccer.com writer Nicholas Rosano described Jack’s performance as a “silver lining” for NYCFC. As a 57th minute substitute, Harrison seemed to make something happen every time he touched the ball. Two games later, he scored his first professional goal in his first professional start, and for the icing on the cake, he grabbed a great back heel assist to David Villa the next game. This was one of many compliments Jack picked up from top players such as Andrea Pirlo, Steven Gerrard and Villa himself over the course of the season.