Leeds United loan star Jack Harrison on leaving Manchester United and signing for Manchester City

Leeds United‘s on-loan winger Jack Harrison says he is ‘proud’ that he turned his back on their bitter rivals, Manchester United, as he strived to become a Premier League player.

Harrison spent seven years at Manchester United’s academy, but the day he chose to leave Old Trafford was the biggest and best decision of his life.

Walking out on United has led to an incredible journey that has seen him play in Major League Soccer alongside David Villa, Andrea Pirlo and Frank Lampard, sign for Manchester City and become a lynchpin of Marcelo Bielsa’s exciting Leeds’ team.

Leeds loanee Jack Harrison (centre) scores against Liverpool on his Premier League debut

Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo were two of Harrison’s first-team heroes at Manchester United as he worked his way through the academy

Now aged 23, and in the form of his life with two superb performances under his belt against Liverpool and Fulham, Harrison has spoken of why he left the Red Devils.

‘The first-team players were up on the wall,’ Harrison, told BBC Sport. ‘Ryan Giggs was one, [Cristiano] Ronaldo was one. I wanted to be like them. The only thing I thought about was making it to the first team.’

Harrison, who was born in Stoke-on-Trent and brought up in Bolton, signed for the club aged eight.

However, as he grew into his teens, Harrison, surveyed the team photographs of the club’s academy sides and he began to understand the chances of realising his dream were slim.

‘My mum said, “do you recognise any of those lads?”‘ Harrison recalls. ‘She said,’ all those lads were in the academy, where are they now?” That really hit me. She said, ‘just because you are here does not mean that you will make it to the first team’.

‘It was my “sliding doors” moment. And to go through the door and leave United was where my story began.

Proving to be a handful in the Premier League, the 23-year-old is a top performer for Leeds

‘The one thing I am most proud of myself for is taking the step to leave the Manchester United Academy,’ he added.

‘There were a lot of times I was doubting myself and how I could still achieve my dream of playing in the Premier League. But I look back on this crazy journey and realise the path I chose prepared me for this moment.’

At the age of 14, Harrison and his mother took the brave decision to leave Manchester to attend Berkshire School in Sheffield, Massachusetts in the United States, with the hope he could win a scholarship to a US university.

It paid off. He made it to college before landing a place in the star-studded New York City team manged by former Arsenal enforcer Patrick Vieira, alongside Pirlo, Lampard and Villa.

Harrison played for New York City FC and had England legend Frank Lampard as a team-mate

After two years in the States, Harrison’s ambition to play in the Premier League still burned brightly and on January 30, 2018, he signed for Manchester City. The winger had a brief loan spell at Middlesbrough, before joining Leeds United on a season-long loan for 2018-19 season, playing 42 times and scoring four goals.

He signed for Leeds on loan again for the their EFL Championship winning season and has stayed at Elland Road for the current campaign.

Harrison admits he had not heard much about Leeds’ legendary coach, Marcelo Bielsa when he first headed down the M62 from the Etihad in Manchester to Elland Road, except for his nickname, ‘El Loco’, or The Crazy One.

But he is a big fan now having won plaudits for his appearances so far this term, including a wonderful individual goal at Anfield in the 4-3 defeat to Liverpool. He is finally living the dream.