Just who exactly was doling out the sage advice to the Stockport youngster?
Back in May, Jose Mourinho was in attendance at Old Trafford to watch the Manchester United reserves defeat Tottenham 3-2.
21-year-old midfielder Josh Harrop rattled in a hat-trick in the game [below] and, within six days, he was scoring on his full United debut against Crystal Palace.
Mourinho had already been planning on giving several young players a run for the final league game of the season and Harrop jumped to the top of the queue. Within 15 minutes of his first Premier League game he had scored.
A month after his impressive bow, Harrop was gone. Preston North End signed him up and it was not a loan deal. He signed for Simon Grayson – before he departed to take over at Sunderland – on a four-year deal. United were compensated, but the figure itself was not disclosed.
Ahead of the Championship season, Harrop spoke with reporters about why he chose to leave United just as things were looking up. Why he chose to strike a new path rather than stick around and follow in the foot-steps of Marcus Rashford, Axel Tuanzebe and Scott McTominay, who has been added to the senior squad for 2017/18.
Harrop told Manchester Evening News:
“Jose really helped me with my debut. He sat me down and told me to try and enjoy it because it was a positive step in my career. I owe a lot to him for giving me a chance and giving me my debut.”
Despite the claims that Mourinho never gives young players a chance, he handed out 82 appearances to 10 players in his squad that were aged 21 or younger. Harrop had done enough to give himself a great chance of featuring more in the coming season and it is likely that, had he stayed, he would have been given the chance to impress on United’s various preseason tours.
It seems, though, as if Harrop had already made his mind up, or had his mind made up for him. His comments, reported by The Star, are shocking when you take into account the season he just came through at United.
“Before my debut the plan was for me to go and get games,” he said, “Then when I scored it made things a lot harder.
“United had already offered me a deal and they offered me another on top of it which made the decision tougher. It would have been easy to take it. There was no guarantee I was going to play though I’m too old to be playing reserve team football and need to playing first-team football but there was no promise of that at United. I made the big decision and have come here to prove myself.”
Harrop says he is confident that he will back up his decision to move with Preston and hopefully return to the Premier League with the club. Perhaps the most startling aspect of the whole Harrop transfer was the fact that he, or his representatives, did not seek out a discussion with Mourinho before the call was made to move on.
The United manager went out of his way to make the young midfielder welcome but he had his head turned. Maybe it is time to review the staid narrative of Mourinho the short-termist.
