Jack Harrison must improve poor Everton form to earn permanent deal, he’s done nothing in weeks
Jack Harrison simply must improve on his poor recent performances at Everton if he wants to earn a permanent deal at the club.
The 27-year-old signed for the Toffees on loan from Leeds United last summer following their relegation to the Championship.
But the English winger had a less-than-ideal start to life at Goodison Park, having missed the first few weeks of the campaign with a hip injury.
He did, however, quickly make up for that lost time in his first Premier League start for the Toffees, where he scored his first goal and laid on an assist in the 3-0 victory over Bournemouth on 7 October.
Harrison would go on to play an important role for the Blues over the next couple of months as they won six of their next nine league games and lifted themselves away from danger despite being hit with their points deduction for breaching the league’s spending rules.
He continued to look bright towards the back end of the year, putting his side ahead against Manchester City on 27 December before his former club turned things around to claim the three points at Goodison.
Since then, however, the winger has only registered one Premier League goal and no assists, taking his tally to three goals and three assists in 22 appearances.
That’s quite a bit down on the five goals and seven assists he registered for Leeds last season, where he was one of the few standouts despite their relegation.
While there is no doubt the Englishman possesses plenty of quality, he currently isn’t doing enough to persuade Sean Dyche into signing him this summer, particularly given that money is tight at Goodison.
There could be more funds available if a takeover were to go through before the summer, but it’s looking increasingly unlikely that 777 Partners will become the new owners given the doubts over its suitability.
With stats becoming more of an indicator for clubs on whether to sign players, they don’t really go in Harrison’s favour.
The winger is averaging just 0.4 shots on target per game this season, having missed two big changes for a goal conversion of 13 per cent [SofaScore].
He’s averaging just 35.2 touches, which indicates he isn’t doing enough to get on the ball, and his pass accuracy is down at 70 per cent. That drops to 59 per cent in the opposition’s half.
His play on the wing hasn’t been great, either, with just 18 per cent of his crosses finding a teammate and only 42 per cent of his attempted dribbles coming off.
The loanee also hasn’t contributed much from a defensive standpoint, having averaged one tackle a game and being dribbled past 1.1 times per outing.
There is a strong likelihood that his stats have significantly reduced over the past few weeks on the back of the Toffees’ poor run of form, with their last league victory coming 12 games ago against Burnley on 16 December.
If they can turn things around, then it’s likely Harrison will be able to rediscover some of the form he showed before Christmas.
But as things stand, he really isn’t doing enough to show why he deserves to remain on Merseyside for the long term.
In other Everton news, Moshiri was left without £200million paperwork to sign as a PSR blunder has emerged.
For more Everton news, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.