After snapping up Manor Solomon and Marco Brescianini, Fiorentina’s January revolution thunders on with the news that the Viola are working on a deal for Leeds United’s Jack Harrison. Per Nicolò Schira, the 29-year-old will join on a 6-month loan with an option to make the move permanent until 2029 for €10ish million. I haven’t been able to find any salary numbers but it sounds like the player’s en route to Florence, which makes me think the deal will be done some time next week.
Harrison’s had a pretty
strange career: he spent time in the Manchester United academy before moving to the US aged 14, winning the Gatorade National Player of the Year in his final year of high school and playing for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons before entering the MLS draft and getting picked first overall; following a trade, he ended up with NYCFC (yes, this all sounds unhinged to any non-American). In 2017, he scored 10 goals and added 3 assists in 34 games, earning a move to Manchester City (NYCFC’s affiliate) and heading back to England.
He never turned out for City, moving on loan to Middlesbrough and then to Leeds for three straight seasons, helping them earn promotion in 2020. He made the move permanent a year later and helped Leeds stay up but couldn’t keep them afloat in 2023. He found a loan move to Everton rather than return to the hurly-burly of the Championship. He stayed with the Toffees for 2 years. When he finally returned to Leeds, he was greeted with disdain for refusing to stick around and fight for the shirt and has been a bit part player this year, making just 13 appearances, mostly off the bench, and failing to score or assist.
Harrison can play on the right, which is where I’d expect him to slot in with Fiorentina, displacing or at least competing with Fabiano Parisi. He’s got good pace but is more shifty than speedy and works hard out of possession. He seems more like an archetype that doesn’t really exist in the modern game: the left-footed left midfielder in a 4-4-2 whose primary job is crossing the ball into the box rather than dribbling, passing, or pinching in.
He’s at least fairly diligent defensively but it’s a truly odd move for any number of reasons. The first is his wage: he’s the 2nd-highest earner at Leeds after Dominic Calvert-Lewin, raking in a remarkable €5.4 million. His contract at Elland Road runs until 2028 so he’s leaving a lot of money on the table unless Fiorentina pays him an enormous amount. Maybe Leeds will cover some or all of his salary, but that’s a significant line on the balance sheet.
It feels even more expensive when factoring in Harrison’s recent production. He’s got 9 goals and 11 assists over the past 3 years in the Premier League. He’s been a regular starter throughout, and while Leeds and Everton haven’t boasted impressive attacking numbers (or personnel, or tactics), it seems like a lot of money for a guy who’s 29, has no connection to Italy, earns a big salary, and has earned the ire of his current team’s supporters.
I won’t pretend to have a good idea of who Jack Harrison is as a player. Maybe he’s perfectly suited to life in Serie A and will take the league by storm. For the price, he won’t be expected to rescue the club, either, so much as lend a hand to a beleaguered Viola squad, but I’ll echo every Premier League observer I’ve talked to about this one when I sum it up with the most Jason McAteer, “Why?”
