Harrison to USMNT? NYCFC’s ex-Manchester United Academy starlet open to it

He’s the next Darlington Nagbe or Dom Dwyer, in that we can expect to read “Well if Jack Harrison gets his citizenship, he can play for the USMNT in half a decade” stories for a while.

That’s the mini-story coming out of New York City FC headquarters, where the MLS SuperDraft’s No. 1 pick admitted he’d consider playing for the Yanks and not his native England if he got his citizenship.

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That said, it’s not a stretch given that the prospects of the 19-year-old former Manchester United Academy player being called up to England out of Major League Soccer are historically much slimmer than the postage stamp pitch at Yankee Stadium.

Here are Harrison’s thoughts, from the Empire of Soccer podcast:

“I would think about it yeah. You never know what is going to happen. I’m just always open to new opportunities,” Harrison said in an interview with EoS Radio. “It would be great to represent this country. But again, we would have to see later on down the line.”

As MLSSoccer.com points out, Harrison would need a green card -- he’s lived here since he was 14 -- and then live here continuously for five years to even apply for full citizenship (Plus be good enough to earn a call-up).

Harrison is an electric talent, though, and blazed through a season at Wake Forest before the Chicago Fire called his name and proceeded to trade his rights to NYC. He’d be more on Nagbe’s timeline, and the Portland Timbers midfielder got his citizenship at the age of 25.

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