Jack Harrison reveals underlying Leeds United issue in early-season review and 'exciting' four-year goal

Most would agree that Harrison started the season in incredible form before it all tailed off in the Premier League's first 2022/23 stanza. All of his goal contributions came inside the opening three games and since then the goals and assists have dried up. What few knew was that the 26-year-old was limping towards the World Cup break - he just wasn't showing it, until he sat out the game at Tottenham Hotspur.

"I had a Grade 2 tear in my hip and then two tears in my calf and inflammation as well," he told the YEP from the club's training camp in Oliva, Spain.

"That's why I was advised to stay out of the Tottenham game because, you know, if I'd have risked it, I could have been out for six to eight weeks and it would have pushed me back a long way. So it was a tough decision because I'm always the type of person that wants to play and push myself, but I think it was a smart decision at the time."

On one hand, players play with injuries all the time. At Leeds in the past few seasons Liam Cooper, Stuart Dallas, Luke Ayling, Adam Forshaw, Rodrigo and numerous others have all had to do it, usually without any kind of fanfare because why show any weakness to an opponent?

On the other hand, physical conditioning plays such a huge part in performance that the scrutiny top flight players come under can cast them in a harsher light than is reasonable, if all the facts are not known.

"I don't like to use that as an excuse," said Harrison.

"I think it's always something you deal with as a player, you're always playing through something. You try not to let it affect you. It's part of the game just for the player to deal with it. It could be an easy decision, oh I'm feeling this I'm not playing. I'm always trying to offer myself to the team and push myself to the limit and that's kind of where my mentality is. I don't like just sitting out because I'm feeling something.

"I think if you look at this group as it is, I think you've always got players like that you are pushing themselves to the limit and it's hard. It's not always easy for the fans, they're just quick to assume he's playing good or playing bad. But it's part of football, fans are going to be like that, they're not going to change. We are grateful for the fans who are always supportive, but the ones who are not, we understand you as well. It's just part and parcel of the game."

Last season was a struggle for most, if not all who played a part for Leeds United and though Harrison ended it with eight goals - including the one that secured Premier League status - and a single assist, there's more to it than that, for him.

"There's a lot more to it," he said.

"If you look at the modern game now, there's a lot more to it for attackers, working hard on and off the ball as well. I mean, you have all the stats in the world now, expected goals, expected assists, created chances, this, that and the other. As a whole there's a lot more to football than that.

"In terms of stats and stuff, it just depends on how you look at it. Even towards the end of the season when a lot of people were saying I was playing bad, I was always creating chances, still right up there with the top of the English players as well. So it just depends how you look at it honestly. You can see the stats and take what you want from it, but for me I'm just always trying to use it as a platform to keep pushing myself to improve in different areas."

Reviewing his performance in the first part of the season, Harrison admits the start was better than the finish but believes the margins that lie between success and anything else are fine. He's invested in understanding those margins in order to have more success and less of anything else.

"I think I had a good start," he said.

"I think there was some times towards the end, a couple of weeks before the break where I would have liked to add a few more goals and a few more assists. I think analysing my game there's not a whole lot of difference to the start of the season, i's just a matter of a couple of inches on a pass or a couple of inches on a shot. So just trying to create more of those opportunities and put myself in the best position to help the team and try and score and assist as much as possible.

"That's the quality that comes with being in the Premier League and if you want to be a top player you have to look for those little, little differences and see where you can continue to improve. So I'm always trying to try to do that and there's always areas that I can improve on and get better. I'm working really hard off the pitch to get back to fitness I had at the start of the season and add on top of that these little differences that can help me and help the team as well."

The team, he says, are all about the fine details, too. Head coach Jesse Marsch has been emphasising the importance of intensity levels from the kick-off and following the game plan, something that has at times proved difficult for Leeds.

"A lot of it is the intensity from the start of the games, we really want to come out flying and especially against Man City that is going to be huge for us," said the ex-Man City man.

"I think sticking to the principles and the tactical game plan that he's devised is going to be important as well. I think there's been times where we as players, maybe drift away from that a little bit of causes problems. I think there are times where we maybe fall back into the habits of the old managerand it's normal. I think in any club you always have players that have been there for a long time and they have those tendencies to do those things but I think everyone's got a good head on their shoulders, trying to work out the right things and trying to do as the manager says and it is bound to happen, but Jesse's drilling it into us every day and we're trying to take as much in as we can."

And with the Premier League around the corner again, Harrison's underlying injuries have been given time to heal and feels like he's in a good place, mentally and physically, even if putting his feet up felt 'a little bit weird' and even if a World Cup for which he had dreams has got well underway without him.

That dream hasn't died completely because playing for his country remains a goal of his and as he returns to the pitch in the colours of Leeds in the coming weeks, future hope will lie just underneath the surface, driving him.

"It's really exciting, it's a big goal of mine and something I'm always pushing for," he said.

"Now in the back of my mind I was already talking about 2026 in the US, like it's almost written for me to go there so I need to push myself and get there. That's where my head's at."