Leeds United confirmed on Monday afternoon that Jack Harrison has completed a second loan move to Everton.
It would be fair to say Leeds‘ announcement spoke volumes about their feelings towards the deal as they made it clear it was once again Harrison’s decision to make use of his active loan clause.
Harrison was thought to be one of two players with the option to leave temporarily for a second successive season after Leeds’ failure to win promotion.
It isn’t entirely clear out of Marc Roca and Brenden Aaronson who the other one is, though the former is actually set to re-join Real Betis permanently, rather than on loan.
Aaronson, meanwhile, is said to have rejected the possibility to move on loan again despite having offers on the table, which does explain why Leeds would feel slightly peeved towards Harrison.
Harrison sends message to Leeds ahead of new season
There have been mixed reports regarding Everton’s future ability to buy him permanently, though Graham Smyth has confirmed there will be no option-to-buy.
Fabrizio Romano has echoed that suggestion, though he also reported exclusively yesterday that Everton could actually make the deal permanent in due course.
With Everton still in talks over the completion of a new takeover, it is likely that any permanent switch for Harrison will depend on that being done before the end of the window.
Upon the announcement of his move, Harrison posted on Instagram to express his excitement at spending another season at Goodison Park.
However, he also briefly spared some thoughts on his parent club Leeds ahead of the new season, despite the frustration of his loan move.
He wrote: “Proud to be returning to Everton for our last season at Goodison. I’ve been working hard this summer to hit the ground running in pre-season and show the Blues what I can really do. I want to wish to wish everyone at Leeds well for the coming season.”
How much money will Leeds get for Harrison?
Leeds are due to receive no loan fee from Everton as part of the deal, which was also the case last year in all eight of their first team temporary exits.
Instead, Everton will be covering the entirety of his salary, which should help Leeds in their compliance with PSR due to their overall wage bill being lower, as Angus Kinnear explained after last summer.
However, the undoubted frustration from Leeds’ point of view is that Harrison is clearly one of their most sellable assets, given he is still under contract until 2028.
In a summer where Leeds know they need to raise funds through sales, losing someone as cheaply as they have for Harrison is where the frustration comes from.
Leeds will probably expect to make somewhere around the £11 million mark if they do end up selling him, which is roughly what they paid Manchester City in 2021.