Everton, Harrison and the unconventional soccer signings
JAMES NALTON discusses how due to recent sporting and financial issues, the Toffees are having to think outside the box in terms of transfers this summer
AFTER years of mismanagement in almost every area of the sporting and financial side of the club, Everton are having to approach this summer’s transfer window less lavishly and more unconventionally than other clubs.
They have found a manager in Sean Dyche who will organise the team tactically and mentally to give them a chance or not being pulled into a relegation battle for a third year running.
But away from the day to day training and man-management, Everton still need to improve their squad.
They are having to think a little outside the box in the transfer market in order to do so, given their financial situation.
Winger c signed on loan from relegated Leeds United, is someone who is used to doing things slightly differently.
Having been on the books at Liverpool and Manchester United as a youth, his breakthrough into professional, senior football came while playing in the United States for Manhattan SC and Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
The Demon Deacons are the soccer team of Wake Forest University in North Carolina, where he had moved having impressed at high school level in Sheffield, Massachusetts.
By all accounts, Harrison shone at every level of his path through youth soccer in the United States, a move that had been suggested by his mum, Debbie, while he was still on the books at Manchester United.
It was a move that paid off. Harrison was spotted by MLS side New York City FC on the back of his time at Wake Forest and Manhattan SC.
NYCFC traded its fourth pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft, 250k of General Allocation Money (MLS’s internal currency), and a player (Brandon Vincent, now retired at 29) to Chicago Fire in order to acquire Harrison, who was selected by the Fire as the first overall pick of the 2016 draft.
New York City used the tools of trade to make sure they got their man in the draft.
From Premier League academies to Massachusetts high school, North Carolina college, drafts and trades; it was certainly an unconventional route.
But it was one that saw Harrison land at a club linked to Manchester City and a potential route back to the Premier League further down the line.
He continued to impress in the United States, with two good seasons in New York that alerted Championship side Leeds United.
Harrison made the move back across the Atlantic to play a part in Leeds’ promotion to the Premier League under Marcelo Bielsa in 2020.
His combination of skill and hard work made him a mainstay of Bielsa’s system even once the club were promoted to the Premier League, and it is these qualities that will endear him to Dyche.
Everton will see him as a replacement for Anthony Gordon who joined Newcastle United in January for £45 million.
Given the club’s finances, the loan deal makes a lot of sense. Especially, as reported by the Athletic, the only payment is that of Harrison’s wages rather than there being any loan fees.
A host of departures in 2023 with fees received for Niels Nkounkou, Ellis Simms, Ishe Samuels-Smith, Moise Kean, plus Gordon give Everton some room to manoeuvre in the transfer market, but they are still restricted by previous financial mismanagement.
Being able to sign a player for no transfer fee, and one who fits the system, is a massive bonus in such circumstances.
And this isn’t the first time Everton have looked to the world of soccer for a slightly unconventional transfer.
The club have a history of signing players who have plied their trade on the other side of the Atlantic.
Joe-Max Moore (New England Revolution), Richard Gough (San Jose Clash, free transfer) Brian McBride (Columbus Crew, loan), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy, loan) and a certain Wayne Rooney (DC United) for his second Everton spell all arrived on the back of seasons in American soccer.
Tim Howard joined from Manchester United after moving to the Premier League from the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, and Tomasz Radzinski had played for North York Rockets in Toronto, Canada, earlier in his career.
The best example of an unconventional soccer signing, though, is that of Predrag Radosavljevic, better known as Preki, at the dawn of the Premier League era in 1992.
Having played indoor soccer for much of his career Preki made the move to Merseyside from Major Indoor Soccer League side St. Louis Storm.
Moving from an indoor form of the game to the Premier League would be unthinkable now.
“It’s really not easy to do what I did because when you don’t play the game at the top level for such a long time, to come into the Premier League is not an easy adjustment,” Preki told the Liverpool Echo last month.
“I wish I came there when I was younger. It would have been different, but you don’t get to choose when the chance comes.”
At the age of 26, Harrison has such a chance. He’ll be looking to help Everton during a difficult time for the club but will be doing so in his peak years as a footballer.
His spell working with Bielsa will serve him well and should mean he will adapt easily to Dyche’s own pressing game.
Much of the attention has been on Everton’s signing of Arnaut Danjuma, also on loan, after the player chose Tottenham over them in January, and 19-year-old striker Youssef Chermiti who arrived from Sporting for an initial £12m.
But the most useful could well be Harrison.
He is exactly the kind of signing they need to make, and for transfers of this type they’d be hard pushed to find a player more suitable, regardless of the unconventional paths they took to get here.
