Jack Harrison has shared that he still gets messages from Frank Lampard and David Villa, as he told Leeds United’s Podcast.
The Leeds winger shared that he can still ‘reach out to them for advice’ and labelled them as ‘such nice guys’ that are ‘always willing to help’.
Whilst the MLS is sometimes considered to be a place where older players would go to finish their careers, it’s not what Harrison did.
During the early part of the Englishman’s career, he played for New York City, who are the sister club of Manchester City.
Harrison was on Man City’s books before Leeds purchased him on a permanent basis, and during his times in America, he played alongside some legendary figures, including Villa, Lampard and Andrea Pirlo.
Not a bad story to tell the grandkids for the 25-year-old, who scored his first Premier League hat-trick at the weekend as Leeds beat West Ham.
Nonetheless, Harrison shared that Lampard has previously told him to always think he is the ‘best player on the pitch’ even if he isn’t.
“Even now, sometimes I get messages from David (Villa) and Frank (Lampard),” said Harrison. “I can reach out to them for advice.
“They are such nice guys. They are always willing to help me out with any problem – Frank has, 100%, had a brilliant mentality when it comes to these kinds of things.
“He told me ‘when you walk on the pitch, you have to tell yourself that you are the best player on the pitch, even if you are not’ – I’ve tried to have this in my mind, but, for me, I don’t want to be seen as someone who is overconfident, so I downplay a lot of things.
“The same with David as well. He said ‘as a striker, you are always going to go through these periods, but you don’t know why’ – credit to them because they did it at the highest level. I have just been trying to think about these things and implement them.”
That’s not a bad pair of hands to turn to for Harrison if things are going bad for him in Leeds colours.
Prior to his recent strong run of form, he was struggling in front of goal for Marcelo Bielsa’s side.
Harrison hadn’t scored in his first 15 Premier League games, but he now has four from his past two matches.
Now it’s a case of well and truly revving his engine and showcasing that he has a lot more in his locker.