Jack Harrison is “advancing” in Leeds United contract negotiations with his current deal set to expire in 2024, according to Leeds Live.
The winger started the season in sparkling form but has gone off the boil badly as the campaign has gone on, after coming in for sustained transfer interest from Newcastle at the end of the summer transfer window.
TEAMtalk reported on 25 November that the Magpies could still consider a January bid for the 26-year-old, if he returns to better form before then.
Leeds United were reportedly looking for a fee as high as £60million in the summer [Sky Sports, 23 August] while Harrison was playing well, but with six months less on his contract his value would have fallen.
It appears that the club are making progress towards protecting his price tag, with the Englishman one of a number of players with whom they are “understood to be advancing with talks”, according to Leeds Live.
Progress
Negotiations have been open for weeks now and it is hard not to connect the major drop off in form for Harrison with the ongoing speculation over his future.
He began the campaign with a goal and three assists in the first three games of the Premier League, sparking hopes that he could be in line for a place at the World Cup in Qatar.
He ended up barely mentioned when Gareth Southgate’s squad was announced, as he hasn’t added a league goal or assist since that opening burst.
But across his career at Elland Road he has been a key performer, hence the interest from St James’ Park, so it seems unlikely that he doesn’t return to form at some point.
The more time that passes without a new deal leaves the club increasingly open to losing him on the cheap, and certainly nowhere near what they wanted if they were to consider his exit back in August, once he gets back to his best again.
So if Victor Orta is finally getting somewhere and the talks are actually advancing towards a conclusion it is a positive development ahead of the January transfer window, and the hope has to be that a new deal can be wrapped up soon so Harrison’s mind is clear.
Getting him back firing would be a major boost for Jesse Marsch as he looks to navigate the club away from the threat of a second successive relegation battle.
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