Harrogate Town boss hails Huddersfield Town loanee as a star in the making

The 17-year-old striker arrived on loan from Championship outfit Huddersfield Town on Friday and made his debut in yellow and black from the substitutes’ bench at Ebbsfleet United.

And Harratt, who was playing for his parent club against Leeds United in English football’s second tier as recently as last month, has already made an impression on his new manager.

“He’s got that raw hunger of a 17-year-old and he’s going places,” Weaver said of his latest recruit, scorer of more than 30 goals for Huddersfield’s under-17s and under-19s sides during 2018/19.

“You can see, even in the shooting before the game, he accelerates onto his thunderous left foot. He’s got energy to burn and pace as well.

“He looked really lively, you know just from that 10 minutes that he’s going to be a scrapper, he’s being schooled the right way and we’re looking forward to seeing more of him.

“It’s exciting bringing a 17-year-old into the squad who has got that raw potential to play at a very high level and we’re pleased that we’ve got him.”

Weaver moved for Harratt after Mark Beck suffered a recurrence of the hamstring problem which kept him out of action for a month at the back end of 2019.

“Kian will definitely add strength-in-depth in the striker department now that we’ve lost Mark Beck for some weeks,” the Town chief added.

“He felt something after making what was just a routine pass during training.

“He’s a big loss, is Mark, he’s been amazing for us this season and a real talisman and what is important is that we don’t lose momentum, which can happen when you lose your number nine.

“But, Jon Stead has come into the side in recent weeks and done a fantastic job and is leading the way.”

Beck, 25, made his first start in more than six weeks in Town’s FA Trophy sucess at Darlington on January 11, having been sidelined since late November.

He has played 28 times for Town so far this term, scoring six goals.