Jack Harper

Youth career

Harper played for Fuengirola Los Boliches between 2003 and 2009. After trialling with Sevilla and Almería, Harper signed an initial 12-month contract with Real Madrid in 2009, at the age of 13. He moved to Madrid to live at the club's training ground, and attended private school. In December 2012, Harper signed a new five-year contract with Real Madrid. In June 2014 he signed a further contract extension with the club. 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. He signed for English club Brighton & Hove Albion in July 2015. He was injured for the first six months of his time with Brighton.

Senior career

Málaga

Harper returned to Spain with Málaga in January 2017. He spent the end of the 2016–17 season and all of 2017–18 with the Málaga B team, helping them to achieve promotion to the third tier via the playoffs in the latter campaign having lost out due to a last-minute goal in the final round the previous year. He made his first-team debut on 18 August 2018, starting in a 2–1 away win against CD Lugo in the Segunda División. He scored his first professional goal on 3 September, netting the winner in a 1–0 away success over UD Almería.

Getafe

Harper signed a pre-contract agreement with Getafe in February 2019 and completed the move in July. On 10 August, he was loaned to second division side Alcorcón for one year. On 5 October…

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." He has stated his ambition to play for Scotland at the FIFA World Cup. He was called up by the under-15 squad in April 2010, and by the under-16s in July 2011. He made his under-17 national debut in August 2012. He made a total of six appearances for the under-17s in 2012, scoring once. He made his debut for the under-19s in August 2014, making three appearances for them that year. He was dropped from the under-19s in March 2015. He was selected for the Scotland under-21 squad in March 2017, but did not play.

Harper has been compared to Robin van Persie.

Harper was born in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, to Scottish parents. He speaks both English (with a Scottish accent) and Spanish. He grew up in Fuengirola. His brothers Ryan and Mac were also footballers. Ryan was born in Barrhead in Scotland before the family moved to Spain in the mid-1990s.