| Jack Harper | |
| Birth Date: | 28 February 1996 |
| Birth Place: | Málaga, Spain |
| Height: | 1.85m |
| Position: | Forward |
| Currentclub: | Marbella |
| Clubnumber: | 9 |
| Youthyears1: | 2003–2009 |
| Youthclubs1: | Fuengirola Los Boliches |
| Youthyears2: | 2009–2015 |
| Youthclubs2: | Real Madrid |
| Youthyears3: | 2015–2017 |
| Youthclubs3: | Brighton & Hove Albion |
| Years1: | 2017–2018 |
| Clubs1: | Málaga B |
| Caps1: | 50 |
| Goals1: | 24 |
| Years2: | 2018–2019 |
| Clubs2: | Málaga |
| Caps2: | 26 |
| Goals2: | 4 |
| Years3: | 2019–2023 |
| Clubs3: | Getafe |
| Caps3: | 0 |
| Goals3: | 0 |
| Years4: | 2019–2020 |
| Clubs4: | → Alcorcón (loan) |
| Caps4: | 13 |
| Goals4: | 0 |
| Years5: | 2020–2021 |
| Clubs5: | → Cartagena (loan) |
| Caps5: | 6 |
| Goals5: | 0 |
| Years6: | 2021 |
| Clubs6: | → Villarreal B (loan) |
| Caps6: | 11 |
| Goals6: | 2 |
| Years7: | 2021–2022 |
| Clubs7: | → Racing Santander (loan) |
| Caps7: | 17 |
| Goals7: | 2 |
| Years8: | 2022–2023 |
| Clubs8: | → Hércules (loan) |
| Caps8: | 17 |
| Goals8: | 2 |
| Years9: | 2023– |
| Clubs9: | Marbella |
| Caps9: | 26 |
| Goals9: | 5 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2010–2012 |
| Nationalteam1: | Scotland U15 |
| Nationalyears2: | 2012 |
| Nationalteam2: | Scotland U17 |
| Nationalcaps2: | 6 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 1 |
| Nationalyears3: | 2014 |
| Nationalteam3: | Scotland U19 |
| Nationalcaps3: | 3 |
| Nationalgoals3: | 0 |
| Club-Update: | 17:19, 29 May 2024 (UTC) |
Jack Harper (born 28 February 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Marbella. Born and raised in Spain, he represented his parents' birthplace Scotland at youth international levels.
Harper was born in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain,[1] to Scottish parents.[2] [3] He speaks both English (with a Scottish accent) and Spanish.[4] He grew up in Fuengirola.[4]
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.[5]
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, [3] at the age of 13.[4] He moved to Madrid to live at the club's training ground, and attended private school.[4]
In December 2012, Harper signed a new five-year contract with Real Madrid.[6] In June 2014 he signed a further contract extension with the club.[7] 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.[4]
He signed for English club Brighton & Hove Albion in July 2015.[8] He was injured for the first six months of his time with Brighton.[4]
Harper returned to Spain with Málaga in January 2017.[9] He spent the end of the 2016–17 season and all of 2017–18 with the Málaga B team,[10] helping them to achieve promotion to the third tier via the playoffs in the latter campaign[11] having lost out due to a last-minute goal in the final round the previous year.[12]
He made his first-team debut on 18 August 2018, starting in a 2–1 away win against CD Lugo in the Segunda División.[13] He scored his first professional goal on 3 September, netting the winner in a 1–0 away success over UD Almería.[14]
Harper signed a pre-contract agreement with Getafe in February 2019 and completed the move in July.[15] On 10 August, he was loaned to second division side Alcorcón for one year.[16]
On 5 October 2020, transfer deadline day, Harper joined FC Cartagena, newly-promoted to division two, on loan for one year.[17] On 1 February 2021, he moved to Villarreal CF B in the third division, also on loan.[18] On 6 July 2021, he was loaned out to the third-tier again, this time joining Racing de Santander.[19]
On 21 July 2022, Harper moved to Hércules CF also on a one-year loan deal.[20] In July of the following year, he left Getafe.[21]
On 26 July 2023, Harper signed a one-year contract with Marbella FC in the Segunda Federación.[22]
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."[3] He has stated his ambition to play for Scotland at the FIFA World Cup.[4] [23] [24]
He was called up by the under-15 squad in April 2010,[3] and by the under-16s in July 2011.[25] He made his under-17 national debut in August 2012.[26] He made a total of six appearances for the under-17s in 2012, scoring once.[27] He made his debut for the under-19s in August 2014, making three appearances for them that year.[28] He was dropped from the under-19s in March 2015.[29]
He was selected for the Scotland under-21 squad in March 2017,[30] [31] but did not play.
Harper has been compared to Robin van Persie.[32]
Atlético Malagueño