Everton manager David Moyes has spoken out on Leeds United loanee Jack Harrison. The winger, who was told he "must improve", scored in his side's 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Saturday.
Harrison, who is contracted at Elland Road until 2028, finds himself in the middle of his second-successive loan spell at the Merseyside club. But he's found form hard to come by, scoring just once with zero assists in 26 appearances.
Those poor performances had led to Toffees boss Moyes putting out a warning to the 28-year-old, telling the media before the Wolves game: "Let’s be fair, you won’t have longevity if you’re not going to get me assists and you’re not going to get me goals. You have to find ways of coming up with those numbers, it’s just the world that we’re in.
"We can get all the statistics now and we can talk about it. [Harrison and Jesper Lindstrom] are both attacking players, I think both of them have done well but yeah, I need goals from them, I need assists from them. They both need to improve. They’ve done a really good job in recent weeks but there's parts of the game we want them to improve on.”
It's safe to say Harrison took the criticism in his stride, scoring his first goal of the season away to Wolves on Saturday. His deflected effort was cancelled out by Marshall Munetsi as Everton had to settle for a point.
Speaking to TNT Sports following the score-draw, Moyes remarked: "I remember him scoring plenty for Leeds and couldn’t see why he couldn’t do it for us. He is gaining confidence and the goal will help him."
In terms of his overall performance, however, it still leaves a lot to be desired. In 90 minutes, he created just the one big chance, touched the ball 35 times, lost possession on 12 occasions, and had a rather poor 67% pass accuracy.
But the most important statistic is Harrison's goal, which is a massive improvement on how his season has gone thus far. Should his stay on Merseyside be made permanent, he must improve, but with Leeds United on the verge of promotion to the Premier League, and rumours of a return to the MLS, his future remains up in the air.