Jack Harrison has already done enough to show Javi Gracia that his faith in the winger has not been misplaced. The Leeds United man has been an ever present in the Spaniard’s Premier League starting XI over the last month and despite being asked to play a couple of different roles, he has made several decisive plays.
Harrison was the man who produced a moment of real magic to seal a hard-earned point against Brighton last week, swinging the ball around Jason Steele from a tight angle after collecting a short corner. The 26-year-old was on hand once more at Molineux on Saturday to turn home Wilfried Gnonto’s pullback and get the Whites up and running in their 4-2 win over Wolves.
Throw in the assists he recorded against Brighton and Southampton and Harrison has had a direct involvement in four of the seven goals scored during Gracia’s tenure. That’s not a bad return by anyone’s standards and it's been enough to help the Whites move away from the relegation zone.
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Unfortunately, Harrison hasn’t been able to produce such numbers for Leeds since the start of the season and his form for much of the campaign has been a rather large source of frustration for supporters, who know exactly what he’s capable of on his day. Gracia, though, couldn’t be happier with what he’s seen from him over the last four games and he’s taken the chance to underline his importance to the side.
“Very happy with him,” the head coach said. “Because he's a player that can play in different positions always is playing well.
“Last game he scored an amazing goal for us and always is ready to play on the right side, on the left side, playing with three in the middle, in different positions and always in my opinion at a high level. This is the kind of players I think we have to take care of because they are the present and the future of the club."
Harrison played a key role for the Whites last year as Jesse Marsch’s side escaped relegation to the Championship. The former England Under-21 international scored four goals in Leeds’ last nine games, including the stoppage time winner at Brentford on the final day, to push the club over the line and secure another season of Premier League football.
He’ll hope there’ll be no need for last minute heroics this time around, but Harrison seems to be showing signs to suggest he can make a similar impact, with just 11 fixtures remaining on United’s schedule.
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