11 - Jack Harrison

wow... we're even loaning players now to keep DCL company in the physio room

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66492555

The Leeds fans don't seem to rate him.

Armchair wrote:The Leeds fans don't seem to rate him.

well Leeds were pretty forgettable last season... and I must confess to never noticing him either...

..is there a bideo showing his silky moves on the physio table

Classic Everton signing - an injured player, over 26, from a relegated team whose fans don’t rate him, whose favoured position is one  we already have covered.

Brilliant.

Decent player, decent signing. He ain't Messi but he strikes me as being right up Dyche's street. Hard working, direct, chips in with a few goals.

Also, think about it - this suggests we've given up on Gnonto, who we've tried to spend actual money on for weeks. I think this makes it more likely we'll spend actual pounds on a striker this week, rather than Che Adams on loan. Just a theory.

hairy cataract wrote:Classic Everton signing - an injured player, over 26, from a relegated team whose fans don’t rate him, whose favoured position is one  we already have covered.

Brilliant.

On loan, and apparently with an option, not an obligation, to buy. We need a squad, mate. I don't get the negativity on this one.

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:Classic Everton signing - an injured player, over 26, from a relegated team whose fans don’t rate him, whose favoured position is one  we already have covered.

Brilliant.

On loan, and apparently with an option, not an obligation, to buy. We need a squad, mate. I don't get the negativity on this one.

I guess we're not going to get a Gnother Gnonto.
(Quiz question of the day - what the hell is he on about?)

has he signed then ???

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:Classic Everton signing - an injured player, over 26, from a relegated team whose fans don’t rate him, whose favoured position is one  we already have covered.

Brilliant.

On loan, and apparently with an option, not an obligation, to buy. We need a squad, mate. I don't get the negativity on this one.

Yes you’re probably right. It looks like we have a two pronged policy - short term bring in bodies on frees or loans, just for this season to keep us up. long term - spend what little money we have on young prospects like this lad from sporting.

We probably have no intention on actually buying Harrison or Danjuma.

Looks like villa have hijacked the move anyway.

Fuck him. I stand by my original comment.

New update - villa didn’t realise he was crocked and have sent him back to us!

Unless someone is making this up, you really couldn’t make this shit up

Deal completed apparently.

Nice that, for once, a bizarre transfer saga concludes with us looking like the more competent entity. Villa seemed to have dived in only when we'd agreed terms and without knowing he won't be available for a few weeks. They've just lost Buendia for most of the season and this suggests a random telephone directory approach to finding his replacement.

It's another competent squaddie with the potential to compete as a starter, when fit, based on his best form. A sensible, low risk move which will make yet more sense if we can spend some cash on a striker and/or a CB in the next couple of weeks.

hairy cataract wrote:

Rotterdam 1985 wrote:

hairy cataract wrote:Classic Everton signing - an injured player, over 26, from a relegated team whose fans don’t rate him, whose favoured position is one  we already have covered.

Brilliant.

On loan, and apparently with an option, not an obligation, to buy. We need a squad, mate. I don't get the negativity on this one.

Yes you’re probably right.  It looks like we have a two pronged policy - short term bring in bodies on frees or loans, just for this season to keep us up. long term - spend what little money we have on young prospects like this lad from sporting.

We probably have no intention on actually buying Harrison or Danjuma.

Absolutely, this appears to be the policy. We've actually got a good core of youngsters in the squad now, some of whom still have to develop and prove themselves (eg Chermiti, Branthwaite) but we might just look back in two years time and be singing Thelwell's praises.

ok fair enough... let's give the lad a chance.

obvious concern is he is injured for 4-6 weeks according to reports... then he'll take a month at least before he passes the Dyche mega puke up tests.... so he's not available for the splinter bench till around November... that's a problem.

Anyway... how can a player with an injury this serious pass a medical ?

Decent squaddie I suppose, and no real financial outlay as only a loan deal. I guess this means the Gnonto deal is dead, which is a shame as he appears to be a real prospect.

Armchair wrote:Decent squaddie I suppose, and no real financial outlay as only a loan deal. I guess this means the Gnonto deal is dead, which is a shame as he appears to be a real prospect.

I think Gnonto might still happen, maybe even in January. He's a different kind of transfer - very young, sell-on value, could be brilliant - and, as mentioned above, it appears we will spend any money we have on players like him but not on older players who will have to be on frees or on loan.

Just read in the Echo that they reckon Harrison won't be fit til October. Hell of a punt really, cos if he had one of those "setbacks" that our players often seem to get when injured, he might miss half the fucking season. I can only assume we simply don't have any other options, or Leeds are saying they'll pay half his wages while he's injured

hairy cataract wrote:Just read in the Echo that they reckon Harrison won't be fit til October.  Hell of a punt really, cos if he had one of those "setbacks" that our players often seem to get when injured, he might miss half the fucking season.  I can only assume we simply don't have any other options, or Leeds are saying they'll pay half his wages while he's injured

seems like a silly signing to me. I know we need bodies but preferably bodies that could move would be helpful... even Holgate in midfield is a better option IMO

official now

https://www.evertonfc.com/news/3633591/everton-seal-harrison-signing?fbclid=IwAR0HIamStBQuwEb5L_GAXe_j5OCN6khhOxxCHbbTYrHAVSaHRWQBy4hmca0

Everton have completed the signing of forward Jack Harrison on a season-long loan from Leeds United.

The 26-year-old passed his medical with the Club yesterday before completing the necessary paperwork this morning. He will now continue his rehabilitation from a minor hip injury before being available for Sean Dyche’s squad.

Harrison becomes Everton’s fourth signing of the summer transfer window following the arrivals of forward Arnaut Danjuma, defender Ashley Young and striker Youssef Chermiti.

Don’t miss Everton Club channels this week for the first interview with Harrison after joining the Blues.

We're short of wide players if Gray goes, so sensible move IMHO.

36 PL games last season. 5 goals, 7 assists. I think that is a decent return and better than what Gray delivered (4 goals, 1 assist in 33 games) last season.

What is Leeds' thinking here? Get him off the wage bill (he's ex-Citeh so might be on a significant wedge) while they are in the Championship but then they have him back next season if they are in the PL? Or does he not fit into Farke's plans?

Armchair wrote:What is Leeds' thinking here? Get him off the wage bill (he's ex-Citeh so might be on a significant wedge) while they are in the Championship but then they have him back next season if they are in the PL? Or does he not fit into Farke's plans?

It's a good question. There may be elements of what Farke does and doesn't want at play here, but I think that's a minor factor and I certainly think he would have wanted to keep Harrison, who was one of their better players. Looking at what Leeds have done this summer, especially in respect of loaning players out, this appears to be a combo of asset protection, dodging FFP bullets, a large dollop of "we won't go down" hubris, and a director of football who agreed to some terrible contract clauses.

So Leeds have sent seven of their first team squad out on loan this summer. All of them have gone to clubs in the Big 5 European leagues - Koch, Wober and Aaronson have gone to the Bundesliga, Kristensen and Llorente to Roma, Roca to Betis and Harrison has come to us. Of those seven players, only Koch isn't on a long term deal, his Leeds contract runs out next summer. All of the others are sellable assets, all (except Llorente) 26 or under and who have contracts that run through to at least 2026. Harrison, who only signed an extension with Leeds in April, is tied to them until 2028.

Why haven't they sold any of those players? Why loan them all out? For most of them, it's because Leeds don't want to sell them at a discount (relegated, damaged goods, lower fees, reduced leverage in the market) - instead, they will want to retain them so that if they were to bounce back to the Prem next season, they could bring some of them back. Or even if they don't get promoted, Harrison could be worth more on the market in 12 months' time if he has a good season with us. Same with Roca in Spain etc. Selling players at a discount or at a loss is also bad news for FFP reasons. That's shit that they could do without, given the reduction in income (even allowing for parachute payments) due to relegation.

So what makes Leeds different to, say, Southampton, who are selling assets like Ward-Prowse and Lavia for big money? Put simply, Southampton are run better. Leeds have gone from a bad owner/DoF combo, to now being owned by an American investment company who have their own ideas around how to protect their investment and their assets. Part of Leeds' problem, I read recently, is that the previous regime/DoF wanted clauses in contracts committing players to accepting significant salary reductions in the event of relegation. As a trade-off, their former DoF agreed to insert loan release clauses into a number of contracts, including Harrison's, if they were relegated. That effectively nullified the salary drop clause for someone like Harrison, who is objectively a PL-standard player.

This is where Leeds fucked up. In essence, agents had this DoF for breakfast. Harrison signed his extension in April, when Leeds were deep in the shit, knowing that he had his get-out in his new contract if they did go down. It could be that the previous regime/DoF just didn't imagine this scenario would play out, maybe they thought they'd never go down and wouldn't have to activate these clauses. Anyway Leeds fans are now hammering Harrison for lack of loyalty etc but honestly, why do any fans expect a good footballer to play in a lower division for half the salary out of some weird sense of loyalty? They wouldn't stick with a struggling company themselves if they were asked to take a massive pay cut for a year and knew that they could easily go somewhere else to earn their proper salary. Why do they expect footballers to do it? Football fans remain the most naive and gullible bunch of fuckers in the world, no wonder suits and investment companies are falling over themselves to get their slice.

Interestingly, Gnonto apparently doesn't have any kind of release clause, loan or otherwise, which is why they're playing hardball with him. I still think Gnonto might be on the table for us, but only if their new owners feel like they're getting acceptable value for their asset. A loan with a mandatory buy option at a higher value might be what gets it done, for us or for someone else who comes in for him. It's a question of whether the new Yank owners know, as they surely must, that leaving a player to stew in the U-23s for a season will most certainly drive his value down. I'll be very surprised if Gnonto isn't moved on somewhere this window.