“Stressful” is how Jack Harrison describes the run of events that immediately preceded his move to Everton this summer.
The on-loan winger does not expand on the specifics of the day he joined, which began with a medical at Finch Farm and also brought late interest from Aston Villa, but remains sure two months on that he made the “right decision” to swap Yorkshire for Merseyside.
We are speaking during the international break, with Harrison fresh from scoring his first goal for the club against Bournemouth — a stunner from distance that crashed in off the bar at the Park End — and Everton preparing for Saturday’s Merseyside derby at Anfield.
It is early days, but he already seems at ease in his new environment and ready to repay the faith shown in him.
Several Premier League clubs had looked at the possibility of signing Harrison. Newcastle had an enquiry rejected in the summer of 2022 and he was called back from a medical at Leicester by Leeds in January. Villa and Tottenham Hotspur had also monitored his situation, but it was Everton who were the most insistent during the close season.
Aware of a clause in his contract allowing him to leave without a loan fee following Leeds’ relegation, they lodged their interest early. When Villa came to the table late in the day, he was already at Everton’s training ground having his medical. There had been speculation at one stage that Harrison would travel to Birmingham for talks with Villa, but the reality was far more prosaic: he never left Finch Farm.
“Everton showed a lot of interest from the start,” he says. “Obviously there was also some interest from Villa but coming here, meeting the people and seeing the facilities and the new stadium, I saw a club with good foundations.
“I thought, with the players’ right mentality, it can succeed. You meet everyone and realise there are so many good people and it is somewhere you want to be.”
By Harrison’s own admission, leaving Leeds was not easy. But he was ready for a new challenge.
The final months of last season had been tough. He sustained a hip injury in March but postponed surgery until the summer to play his part and attempt to keep Leeds in the Premier League. He scored on the final day of the season against Tottenham but could not stave off relegation. Then, at the end of it all, came surgery over the summer.
“The last two seasons, Everton and Leeds were in similar situations, so it wasn’t easy leaving,” he says. “I was playing through an injury I had for five weeks. I chose to delay surgery to try and help the team stay up.
“My injury made things complicated but, to be fair to (director of football) Kevin Thelwell and the club, they said they didn’t care about the injury and knew what effect I could have on the team.
“I have to be grateful to them for showing that loyalty and commitment to me from the start. I know it is a loan deal but I am going to give it all I have got and see what happens.”
A dejected Harrison contemplates Leeds’ relegation on the final day of last season (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
Harrison had key members of his entourage with him at Finch Farm as he was finalising the Everton move.
Among them was his long-time agent, while Everton had also invited his mother, Debbie, to the training ground for the day. The final decision was his but she was given the impression her son was wanted. They immediately felt at home, as they had done before the move to New York City.
It was Debbie, over a decade earlier, who first suggested Jack should take a more unconventional route in a bid to reach the top of the game. Born in Stoke and raised in Bolton, he had spent time in Liverpool’s academy before joining Manchester United.
But at 14, he changed course, taking the bold decision to swap United’s academy for the Berkshire School in Massachusetts. The move was a success and took him to New York via Wake Forest.
“She likes to say she opened the door and then it was up to me whether I went through it or not,” Harrison says. “I was an only child and she was a single mother. It was definitely outside the box, so I always try to look after my mum and make sure she is taken care of after everything she did for me, whether it be a house, a car or not having to work anymore.
“I did think, ‘What could have happened if I’d stayed at United?’, but as soon as I made it to New York it gave me a different perspective. I have always been a big believer that there are multiple ways to achieve what you want in life.
“Playing with Frank Lampard, David Villa and Andrea Pirlo, being managed by Patrick Vieira, being in an incredible city where I was able to thrive; at that point I thought, ‘It doesn’t matter, this is my path now and I have to continue looking forward’.”
The stint at New York City proved to be a formative moment in Harrison’s career — here was an opportunity to cut his teeth in the professional game alongside figures who had reached the highest level.
“I took something different from each of them but, with Frank for instance, everything was 100 per cent,” he says. “He was such a hard worker but a good team-mate as well. When I saw him and how he conducted himself, not on the pitch but off it as well, I was like, ‘Wow, that’s what it takes to be at the top level’.
“To this day I will try and do things off the pitch, whether it’s an ice bath here or cryotherapy.”
Harrison and Lampard celebrate after the latter’s goal for New York City against Colorado Rapids (Michael Stewart/Getty Images)
Harrison recalls a time when he knocked on Lampard’s door looking for guidance on how to develop an elite mentality.
“I remember asking for advice on a certain mentality, how to be,” he recounts. “I sat in his room in the hotel and just chatted for half an hour.
“Because I had been brought up to be humble, having that ego and that confidence on the pitch was something that challenged me a little bit. When Frank stepped out on that pitch, he used to tell himself he was the best player. It doesn’t have to be in a nasty way or anything.
“It’s definitely important to have. I watched an interview Zlatan Ibrahimovic did where he said he felt like God when he was on the pitch. Maybe I’m not at that level but it’s nice to hear similar stories. That mentality, feeling like you belong, is a big part of it.
“It probably took me a full year just to get used to being around them. Even when Patrick (Vieira) would walk in a room, I always felt like I’d done something wrong, like I was in school and the teacher had walked in or something! But he (Lampard) took me in. After the first year, we were joking. He is somebody that I really looked up to in my career.”
When Harrison joined Everton this summer, he exchanged messages with Lampard, whose own tenure as manager at Goodison ended in January.
“He was like, ‘Oh yeah, of course you are joining them after I leave!’. But he wished me the best of luck and said it was a great club, so just enjoy it.”
Harrison describes Everton as a “great fit”.
“Evertonians like players who work hard, whether pressuring high or working back,” he says. “That is the minimum requirement and then if you need the additional quality to make something happen, I can add that, too.”
His first experience starting a game at Goodison Park proved to be positive. He recalls thinking “wow” at the noise that accompanied James Garner’s opening goal — “It sounded like an 80,000-capacity stadium.”
But the standout moment came later that half, with his first-time effort from distance crashing in off the bar to double Everton’s lead as his mum Debbie watched on from the stands.
“The best things happen when I’m usually not thinking about things because I tend to overthink at times,” he explains. “In that moment, (it’s about) having a bit of composure and recognising the little details, like the ’keeper coming out, and adapting.
“Just seeing her face after things like that is gratifying and makes it all worth it, going out there and being apart for so long, now I am able to be here and I live quite close to her as well.”
Harrison is relishing life at Goodison (Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)
That motivation to repay those who have helped him along the way is still there, but the winger is now at a point in his career where he is ready to take on extra responsibility.
Last season’s relegation with Leeds was scarring and he is keen to do his bit to ensure he is not in that position again.
“It was tough with Leeds,” he adds. “There was a big difference with the change from Marcelo Bielsa and we just managed to stay up. Last year, there was a lot of stuff behind the scenes that people didn’t see and it affected things on the pitch.
“I’ve no doubt in my mind I won’t be relegated again, but it is something that will always stick with me after last year. I never want it to happen again and it’s a motivator for me to make sure it doesn’t.
“It’s something I need to take responsibility for at this level. To help drive this team up to where it belongs. Everton has a solid foundation and there’s a lot of quality on the team.
“It shouldn’t be fighting relegation, so hopefully I can help get the team back up there this year.”
GO DEEPER
How Everton secured Jack Harrison, his likely return to fitness and why he’ll fit in
(Top photo: Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)
