Graham Smyth has called the loan release clause that permits Jack Harrison to return to Everton from Leeds United without having to pay a fee this summer “egregious.”
The main football writer for Yorkshire Evening Post expressed shock at the condition, which permits Harrison to go on loan for a second season in a post on X [June 19].
The 27-year-old will rejoin the Premier League for another season without Leeds having to pay a loan fee, since Everton will cover all of the player’s salary in 2024–2025.
Smyth stated, “Fully expected, of course, but of all the loan clauses handed out this one was surely the most egregious,” quoting colleague Joe Donnohue’s assessment of the action.
Jack Harrison from Leeds United joins Everton on a year-long free transfer.
Leeds loses out on not receiving a straight-up loan fee, as is customary these days, even though the arrangement benefits all parties—Everton gains a senior member of the squad back in the building, Leeds gets relieved of salary for a season, and Harrison stays in the top division.
Former sporting director Victor Orta has speculated that Harrison’s persistent availability to be loaned to other teams is a tactic to get the player to sign a new contract even if relegation is imminent in April 2023.
Although the condition has drawn criticism, Leeds was not surprised by it; Harrison was never anticipated to be in Daniel Farke’s plans for the upcoming campaign and, when it came down to it, didn’t much want to be at Goodison Park.
Harrison is just one of many loanees the Whites will have to cope with in the upcoming weeks as Farke and the club’s recruitment team attempt to put together the Leeds team in an effort to revive their promotion push in 2024–25.
