Jack Harrison: ‘Playing in New York gave me a different perspective’

Everton loanee left Manchester United’s academy to build his career in the USA after good advice from his mum

There were 13 players between Jack Harrison and the Bournemouth goal when he guided Neto’s punched clearance back over a packed penalty area to open his Everton account in audacious style before the international break. “Everyone keeps asking me: ‘What were you thinking?’” he says. The answer is nothing, instinct kicked in, and not for the first time Harrison took an unorthodox route towards a Premier League goal.

Harrison’s pathway to becoming a Premier League fixture started routinely enough with brief spells at Liverpool’s and Bolton’s academies before he joined Manchester United aged eight. From there, however, it diverged in a bold, life-changing direction when, at 14, he moved to a boarding school in Massachusetts. If the decision to relocate alone was tough for the teenager from Stoke it was harder for the person who presented him with the opportunity: Harrison’s mum, Debbie.

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