Jack Harper (footballer)

Jack Harper (born 28 February 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Marbella.[2] Born and raised in Spain, he represented his parents' birthplace Scotland at youth international levels.

Jack Harper
Personal information
Date of birth (1996-02-28) 28 February 1996[1]
Place of birth Málaga, Spain[1]
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Marbella
Number 9
Youth career
2003–2009 Fuengirola Los Boliches
2009–2015 Real Madrid
2015–2017 Brighton & Hove Albion
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2017–2018 Málaga B 50 (24)
2018–2019 Málaga 26 (4)
2019–2023 Getafe 0 (0)
2019–2020 → Alcorcón (loan) 13 (0)
2020–2021 → Cartagena (loan) 6 (0)
2021 → Villarreal B (loan) 11 (2)
2021–2022 → Racing Santander (loan) 17 (2)
2022–2023 → Hércules (loan) 17 (2)
2023– Marbella 3 (2)
International career
2010–2012 Scotland U15
2012 Scotland U17 6 (1)
2014 Scotland U19 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:19, 20 September 2023 (UTC)

Early life

Harper was born in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain,[1] to Scottish parents.[3][4] He speaks both English (with a Scottish accent) and Spanish.[5] He grew up in Fuengirola.[5]

His brothers Ryan and Mac were also footballers.[1] Ryan was born in Barrhead in Scotland before the family moved to Spain in the mid-1990s.[6]

Club career

Youth career

Harper played for Fuengirola Los Boliches between 2003 and 2009.[1] After trialling with Sevilla and Almería, Harper signed an initial 12-month contract with Real Madrid in 2009, [4]at the age of 13.[5] He moved to Madrid to live at the club's training ground, and attended private school.[5]

In December 2012, Harper signed a new five-year contract with Real Madrid.[7] In June 2014 he signed a further contract extension with the club.[8] At the age of 18, with two years left on his contract, he chose to leave Real Madrid after the club said they wanted to loan him out.[5]

He signed for English club Brighton & Hove Albion in July 2015.[9] He was injured for the first six months of his time with Brighton.[5]

Málaga

Harper returned to Spain with Málaga in January 2017.[10] He spent the end of the 2016–17 season and all of 2017–18 with the Málaga B team,[11][12] helping them to achieve promotion to the third tier via the playoffs in the latter campaign[13] having lost out due to a last-minute goal in the final round the previous year.[14]

He made his first-team debut on 18 August 2018, starting in a 2–1 away win against CD Lugo in the Segunda División.[15] He scored his first professional goal on 3 September, netting the winner in a 1–0 away success over UD Almería.[16]

Getafe

Harper signed a pre-contract agreement with Getafe in February 2019 and completed the move in July.[17] On 10 August, he was loaned to second division side Alcorcón for one year.[18]

On 5 October 2020, transfer deadline day, Harper joined FC Cartagena, newly-promoted to division two, on loan for one year.[19] On 1 February 2021, he moved to Villarreal CF B in the third division, also on loan.[20] On 6 July 2021, he was loaned out to the third-tier again, this time joining Racing de Santander.[21]

On 21 July 2022, Harper moved to Hércules CF also on a one-year loan deal.[22] In July of the following year, he left Getafe.[23]

Marbella

On 26 July 2023, Harper signed a one-year contract with Marbella FC in the Segunda Federación.[24]

International career

Harper has elected to represent Scotland at international level, saying that "even though I live in Spain, I feel Scottish, so I want to make my family proud and play for my country."[4] He has stated his ambition to play for Scotland at the FIFA World Cup.[5][25][26]

He was called up by the under-15 squad in April 2010,[4] and by the under-16s in July 2011.[27] He made his under-17 national debut in August 2012.[28] He made a total of six appearances for the under-17s in 2012, scoring once.[29] He made his debut for the under-19s in August 2014, making three appearances for them that year.[30] He was dropped from the under-19s in March 2015.[31]

He was selected for the Scotland under-21 squad in March 2017,[12][32] but did not play.

Playing style

Harper has been compared to Robin van Persie.[33]

Honours

Atlético Malagueño

See also

References
  1. "Profile". Real Madrid C.F. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  2. Jack Harper at Soccerway. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  3. "Jack Harper: 'When I was at Real Madrid people asked if I was actually Scottish'". the Guardian. 7 February 2019.
  4. Scott Johnson (30 March 2013). "Playing abroad can work for Britain's prospects". When Saturday Comes. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  5. "Jack Harper: Malaga's Scottish forward who walked out on Real Madrid as a teenager'". BBC Sport. 17 January 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  6. Armero, Andrés (23 April 2012). "El 'Braveheart' de la División de Plata está listo para la batalla" [Silver Division's 'Braveheart' is ready for the battle]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 December 2013.
  7. Gary Ralston (26 December 2012). "Scots hitkid Jack Harper in dreamland after penning new five-year deal with Real Madrid". Daily Record. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
  8. Derek Miller (10 June 2014). "Jack Harper is still Real deal". The Herald. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  9. "Real Madrid's Jack Harper joins Brighton & Hove Albion". BBC Sport. 23 July 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  10. Brian Owen (4 January 2017). "Jack Harper leaves Brighton and Hove Albion and joins Malaga CF". BBC Sport. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  11. "Profile" (in Spanish). La Preferente. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  12. "Malaga's Jack Harper among 10 new faces in Scotland Under-21 squad". BBC Sport. 15 March 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  13. "Promotion delight for Malagueño (1-1)". Malaga CF. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  14. "Incomplete comeback for Malagueño against Adarve (4-2)". Malaga CF. 24 June 2017. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  15. "El Málaga asalta el Anxo Carro en tres minutos de locura" [Málaga take over Anxo Carro in three minutes of madness] (in Spanish). Marca. 18 August 2018. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  16. "Munir y Harper dan alegría y el liderato al Málaga" [Munir and Harper give joy and the leadership to Málaga] (in Spanish). Diario AS. 3 September 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  17. "Jack Harper: Scot signs five-year deal at Getafe in La Liga". BBC Sport. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  18. "Jack Harper cedido" [Jack Harper out on loan] (in Spanish). Getafe CF. 10 August 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2019.
  19. "Comunicado Oficial: Jack Harper" [Official announcement: Jack Harper] (in Spanish). Getafe CF. 5 October 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  20. "Villarreal B have a new striker: Harper". Villarreal CF. 1 February 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  21. "Jack Harper, octava incorporación a la plantilla del Racing 2021/22" (in Spanish). Racing de Santander. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  22. "Jack Harper es nuevo jugador del Hércules CF" [Jack Harper is the new player of Hércules CF] (in Spanish). Hércules CF. 21 July 2022. Retrieved 30 July 2022.
  23. "El Getafe se desentiende de Jack Harper" [Getafe set free from Jack Harper] (in Spanish). Vavel. 28 July 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  24. "El Marbella rescata a Jack Harper" [Marbella rescue Jack Harper] (in Spanish). Diario AS. 26 July 2023. Retrieved 7 August 2023.
  25. "Harper on life at Real Madrid and Scotland dreams". Scottish FA. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  26. Gavin Berry (8 October 2014). "Real Madrid starlet reveals his Scotland dream as he prepares for U19 Euro Championships duty". Daily Record. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  27. "Under-16 squad announced for Jersey trip". Scottish FA. 14 July 2011. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  28. McColl, Graham. "Harper delighted to have the chance to prove he is Real deal" – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  29. "Scotland U17 profile". Scottish FA. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  30. "Scotland U19 profile". Scottish FA. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
  31. "Real Madrid striker Jack Harper left out of Scotland U19 squad". BBC Sport. 25 March 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  32. Alan Temple (26 March 2017). "Ex-Real Madrid kid Jack Harper is back on Scotland's radar". The Scotsman. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  33. "Starlet Jack Harper out to prove he is the Real deal". Sunday Post. 3 August 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
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