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)

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.

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]

Senior career

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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "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. 1 2 3 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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "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. 1 2 "Malaga's Jack Harper among 10 new faces in Scotland Under-21 squad". BBC Sport. 15 March 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  13. 1 2 "Promotion delight for Malagueño (1-1)". Malaga CF. 25 May 2018. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
  14. 1 2 "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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