Jack Harrison’s Assist Burst Pays New England’s DP Wager

Jack Harrison has six assists in five games for New England Revolution, the fastest such start in club history. The 29-year-old joined from Leeds United on July 25 as a Designated Player after a decade in England and Italy.

He started again on September 9 at Citi Field, left on 80 minutes, and watched Dániel Gazdag win it in stoppage time. The opening burst is already the argument for the roster slot.

What Jack Harrison’s Revolution Contract Includes

New England signed Harrison from Leeds on July 25, 2026 on a Designated Player contract through 2029-30 for an undisclosed fee, then listed him as a domestic player after a Green Card on August 2. New England’s June approach for Harrison had already named the Berkshire School tie and the wage problem at Elland Road.

Leeds confirmed a permanent transfer for an undisclosed fee a day later. Harrison had made 13 appearances for Daniel Farke in 2025-26, 11 of them in the league, before a January loan to Fiorentina. The five-year Leeds deal signed in April 2023 still had two seasons left when the clubs struck.

As I considered my options, the decision to return to MLS and join the Revolution was the one that was most aligned with me. It ticked a lot of boxes that I was looking for. I’m absolutely happy to come back to MLS and be back in Massachusetts to a city that is full of champions in all other sports, and I’m hoping we can bring a title here to the city of champions.

Jack Harrison, winger, New England Revolution announcement

Chris Tierney, the club’s general manager and chief soccer officer, said Harrison filled a need in attack and that his creativity and game intelligence would help him land quickly. The club introduced him to the Gillette Stadium crowd before Atlanta United on signing night, and he took the No. 11 shirt.

https://x.com/NERevolution/status/2081157592861016550

Six Assists in Five Games, a Club First

By the time the summer window shut, Harrison had six assists in his first five Revolution games and his first five of those in four appearances, the quickest player in Revolution history to reach that mark. He still had 0 goals.

The debut on August 8 was a 54th-minute substitute shift in a 2-0 home loss to Houston Dynamo, two months after his last Fiorentina match. The supply then arrived in a cluster: a late assist at Toronto in a 2-1 defeat, then a crossing night at D.C. United in a 3-0 win, with Alhassan Yusuf finishing the service.

He did not add to the total in a 1-1 draw with New York City FC on August 23, a 3-1 win at Columbus on August 30, or a 2-1 loss at LA Galaxy on September 6, when he started, took a yellow card in the 44th minute, and kept running at a doubled-up right side. The record sits on those first five games, not on a clean six-week climb.

HARRISON’S LAST FIVE CLUB STOPS

The NYCFC line is the prior MLS proof of concept. The Revolution line is the new one, compressed into a month, with finishing still missing.

The Berkshire Graduate Who Left for Europe

Harrison was born in Stoke-on-Trent on November 20, 1996, raised around Bolton, and spent seven years in the Manchester United academy after a short stop at Liverpool as a seven-year-old. At 14 he left that path for Berkshire School in Sheffield, Massachusetts, and Black Rock FC, and in 2015 he was Gatorade National Player of the Year.

One season at Wake Forest was enough for the 2016 MLS SuperDraft. Chicago Fire called him No. 1 overall, then moved his rights to New York City FC, where he played two seasons, started 50 of 55 MLS matches, and left for Manchester City in January 2018. He never played a first-team game for City. Middlesbrough got four league appearances on loan. Leeds, on the next loan, became the career.

That American chapter is why Foxborough could sell a homecoming without inventing one. It is also why a Designated Player deal on a 29-year-old was not a blind European raid. He had already done the league as a first-overall pick.

Leeds Closed 219 Games for an Undisclosed Fee

Leeds was the long stay: three loans, a permanent signing in July 2021, promotion as Championship winners in 2019-20 with six goals and eight assists in all 46 league matches, eight and eight in the first Premier League season back, and a stoppage-time winner at Brentford that kept the club up in 2022. The club counted 219 appearances and 66 goal involvements, 34 goals and 32 assists.

He played at least 35 matches in each of five full Leeds seasons. The April 2023 extension, a five-year contract through 2028, arrived weeks before relegation. Two Everton loans followed, 73 games, five goals and four assists, while Leeds went through the Championship. When Leeds came back up, Harrison returned, took No. 20, and entered as an 78th-minute substitute in the 2025 opener, a 1-0 win over Everton. Farke then sent him to Florence in January.

THE 2026 ROUTE TO FOXBOROUGH

1. January 19, 2026: Joins Fiorentina on loan from Leeds and posts one goal and three assists in 22 games, six of them in the UEFA Conference League.
2. June 30, 2026: Returns to Leeds when the loan ends, with no permanent stay in Serie A.
3. July 25, 2026: New England announces the Designated Player signing; Leeds confirms the sale on July 26.
4. August 2, 2026: Receives a U.S. Green Card and is listed as a domestic player.
5. August 8, 2026: Debuts as a 54th-minute substitute in a 2-0 loss to Houston.
6. September 9, 2026: Starts at Citi Field against New York City FC, leaves on 80 minutes, and New England wins 2-1.

Elland Road had already priced him as surplus. Two full seasons away, a mid-season Serie A loan, and 13 appearances on the return told the same story the sale did. Foxborough read the other side of that résumé and put a DP tag on it.

Domestic Status After the Green Card

MLS lists Harrison as designated as a domestic player after the August 2 Green Card, which is the quiet roster trick inside the deal. A DP slot still costs against the salary budget. An international slot does not have to go with it.

That matters because New England already carried Carles Gil as a Designated Player and had spent much of the season without Leonardo Campana, who was injured. Matt Turner came off a DP deal on his return from Lyon. Harrison’s card meant the club could spend on the winger and still keep international room for other pieces.

THE ROSTER MATH ON HARRISON

• Contract: Designated Player through the 2029-30 MLS season, signed July 25, 2026.
• Fee: Undisclosed, confirmed by both Leeds and New England.
• Status: Domestic player after a U.S. Green Card on August 2, 2026.
• Shirt: No. 11, 5-foot-9, 155 pounds, left-footed winger.

Career volume behind that slot is 54 goals and 50 assists in more than 375 appearances, including 181 Premier League games with 25 goals and 20 assists for Leeds and Everton.

Crosses From the Right, Yusuf at the Far Post

Marko Mitrović is in his first season as head coach, hired to reset a club that had missed the playoffs two years running. At the July signing, New England sat third in the Eastern Conference with 29 points after the World Cup break. The attack already had Gil, Luca Langoni, and Dor Turgeman. What it lacked, on a team that had 22 goals in 15 games around the announcement, was a wide passer who could keep putting the ball on Yusuf and Turgeman.

Harrison’s early work was volume from the flank, not shots. The D.C. night, when Yusuf scored three and Harrison stacked assists, is the tape the club wanted when it spent the slot. The Galaxy night, when he saw two defenders on every touch near the right corner of the box, is the other side of the same job.

FIVE SUMMER ADDITIONS AROUND HIM

• Jack Harrison: Designated Player winger from Leeds, the only summer arrival on a DP contract.
• Dániel Gazdag: Free-agent attacking midfielder from Columbus, signed off a buyout without using a DP slot, 66 goals and 37 assists across seven MLS seasons.
• Tylon Smith: Center back on loan from Queens Park Rangers with a purchase option.
• Joshua Wynder: American center back on a year-long loan from Benfica after New England paid Nashville $50,000 in 2026 GAM for his discovery rights.
• Judah Siqueira: Homegrown midfielder signed off Revolution II.

Tierney’s window pitch was culture fit plus competition for places. Gazdag checked the first box as a veteran who already knew the league. Harrison checked the second as a starter from day two. Most of the other business was loans and a homegrown, depth without stacking more long guaranteed deals next to Gil.

Subbed at Citi Field With the Score Tied

September 9 was the reunion. Harrison started on the right in a 4-3-3 at Citi Field, the same borough where he had been a first-overall winger nine years earlier. Gil scored from the spot in the 12th minute. Luighi equalized in the 71st. Harrison came off in the 80th with the score 1-1, and he sat with the trainer, indicating his lower leg, while Luca Langoni and Wilson Harris came on.

Gazdag, on for Turgeman in the 72nd minute, scored in the third minute of stoppage time from Ilay Feingold and Brooklyn Raines. New England left Flushing at 12-8-4. New York City FC sat 7-9-8. Matt Turner made five saves. Will Sands started at left back, the same defender already on a long-term deal for Will Sands, and stayed on until the 90th-plus-5.

The assist drought is now four games if the Citi Field night is counted, three if the club’s five-game sample is the fence. Either way, the DP bet is no longer a rumor from June. It is a winger on a contract into 2029-30, with six assists on the board, no goals, and a trainer conversation after 80 minutes against the club that launched him.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who Drafted Jack Harrison in the MLS SuperDraft?

Chicago Fire selected him No. 1 overall in the 2016 SuperDraft, then traded his rights to New York City FC for the fourth overall pick, defender Brandon Vincent, and allocation money. MLS had already rejected NYCFC’s attempt to sign him as a homegrown player despite his years at Manhattan SC.

What High School Numbers Did Harrison Post in Massachusetts?

At Berkshire School he scored 44 goals and added 65 assists and won three NEPSAC Class A titles before the 2015 Gatorade National Player of the Year award. His one college season at Wake Forest produced eight goals and 11 assists in 22 games and an ACC Offensive Player of the Year nod.

How Many England Caps Does Jack Harrison Have?

Two at under-21 level in October 2017, a substitute appearance against Scotland and a start against Andorra in UEFA qualifying. He has no senior England caps.

What Shirt Number Does Harrison Wear for New England?

He took No. 11 after forward Dor Turgeman switched to No. 99 once the signing was filed. In his short 2025 return to Leeds he had worn No. 20.

When Did Harrison Score in Serie A?

He opened his Serie A account on April 20, 2026, at Lecce, during a 15-league-game Fiorentina loan that also included one Coppa Italia match and six UEFA Conference League appearances, five of those as starts.