PURCHASE, N.Y. – Patrick Vieira first noticed Jack Harrison’s maturity when he met the young English winger before New York City FC traded to obtain the first overall pick of the 2016 MLS SuperDraft.
Vieira was even more impressed with Harrison when, in a true New York City moment, he was stuck in traffic and missed a flight to England for his first call-up to the English Under-21 National Team.
After failing to reach anyone at the English FA because of the five-hour time difference, Harrison showed initiative and checked himself into a hotel at John F. Kennedy Airport before booking the next available fight – at his expense, reportedly $1,500.
Harrison arrived at Heathrow Airport on Monday morning and made it to his first training session on time. He earned his first minutes in the 88th minute of Friday's 3-1 win over Scotland and he'll be hoping to see more time on Tuesday against Andorra.
“This is a maturity you don’t have in Europe,” Vieira said. “For Jack to show that I think is a good sign.”
Vieira has long championed Harrison, ranked No. 3 on the recent MLS 24 Under 24 list, for an England U-21 call-up, but the NYCFC manager said the 20-year-old had to play at a high level consistently before given the opportunity.
“The only thing I knew was they were following him for quite a while and it was just a question of time,” Vieira said. “It was important for Jack to keep playing at that level and that will help him go to the national team.”
Vieira said Harrison’s national-team inclusion is a positive – for Major League Soccer and New York City, a sign that young European players can compete abroad and still be featured internationally.
“I believe in England, France, Italy, Europe, there are some young players who don’t get the game program they need,” Vieira said. “I think this is a message to say you can come and play in MLS and still play on the international level because the quality of the game is as good as it can be in some parts of Europe and if you’re coming from Europe, the international level is still open.”
After facing Scotland on Friday, the Young Lions take on Andorra on Wednesday in the second of a pair of European Championship qualifiers. England sit at the top of Group 4.
There is a chance that Harrison, who has 10 goals and six assists in his sophomore MLS season, will draw interest from European clubs if he has similar success with the England U-21s.
“We want to keep him, of course, but if there are clubs interested in the player they will come and speak to us and see what we can do,” Vieira said. “We are open to talk to clubs who are interested in Jack or any other player on our team. But of course we don’t want to move any players, but there comes a time when you may have to.”
