Jack Harper tells his remarkable story from Real Madrid pow wows with Ronaldo and Bale to a brutal health battle
Jack Harper was seen as one of the game's rising stars when he was rattling in the goals for Real Madrid's youth teams as a teenager. But nearly 10 years on from his exit at the Santiago Bernabeu, the former Scotland U19 international is just happy to be playing football again, albeit with Spanish fourth division minnows Linense.
The 28-year-old was born and raised in Malaga, but speaks with a Scottish accent inherited from both of his parents. Harper was picked up by the La Liga giants at the age of just 13 in 2009 and went onto become a prolific scorer in the club's famed La Fabricia (The Factory) youth academy, where he played alongside future Los Blancos stars Dani Carvajal and Lucas Vazquez.
The forward ultimately failed to make the grade at Madrid and ended up leaving the club in 2015 with two years still remaining on his contract in search of first team football but has fond memories of training sessions with Galacticos icon Zinedane Zidane and brief encounters with superstars Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo when he was out injured.
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In an interview with SPORTbible, he said: "You’d arrive on the day and he [Zidane] would call you to do crossing, finishing and one-on-one training. You've probably seen the videos when he's in the first team, setting up Modric and Bale. The pressure of finishing in front of him was brilliant.
"I was there for two months and Cristiano Ronaldo was always there recovering – not from injuries, but just recovering from game to game. A couple of times, Ronaldo reminded me that I had to go to the gym and get stronger to keep away from the injuries. At the same time, he'd be flexing his muscles. That was a surreal moment.
"I would talk to Gareth Bale as well. We had a decent relationship and would often speak. When he signed, he didn't know a word of Spanish, so when I saw him — even with me being just 15-year-old — it must have felt like home to him."
Harper left Madrid to join Brighton in 2015 after seeing a move to Stoke City fall through due to injury, an issue that also plagued his two stay on England's south coast. Spells with hometown club Malaga and top flight side Getafe soon followed but after a succession of loan spells with the likes of Alcoron, Cartagena and Hercules, Harper dropped down to Spain's third tier with Marbella in the summer of 2023 and then again with Linense last year.
But the one-time prospect has revealed that a crazy health battle suffered back in 2019 made his life a living hell for the next few years. "I was out on loan at Alcorcon when it happened out of the blue", Harper added. "It was around October time. I was coming from not feeling 100 per cent, it could have been flu or a cold – nothing out of the ordinary – but one day, I woke up and my ankles were fully swollen.
"It was 5am in the morning. I turned to my girlfriend and said, 'My feet are in absolute agony'. I couldn't believe it. I turned the lights on and my feet were swollen. I couldn't get back to sleep, I was in a lot of pain and wasn't feeling well. I called the doctor and said, ‘Look. I can't even walk. You need to bring some crutches.
"I didn't understand what was going on," he remembers. Even the club doctor didn't understand. He was asking if I'd done something the day before, or if I'd fallen off a motorbike, or done something I shouldn't have."
Harper was eventually diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis – an autoimmune disease that causes pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints, particularly in the hands, feet, and wrists. "I felt terrible for three years", he recalled. " I was having bad headaches and always felt tired.
"Going back to the basics is what made me feel so much better. From going to bed at a decent time, getting eight or nine hours sleep — it's the simple things that don't cost a great deal of money, but I swear by all of these things.
"It gives me chills thinking about it. Looking back, I just wasn't enjoying life. Honestly it just feels great to play and not feel any pain. Even though I'm on five per cent of the wages I was on elsewhere — and I'm not playing at the big stadiums like before — I don't care. I'm on the grass again and enjoying it. I feel as if I'm 21 again because of all the time I've missed. I'm re-energised."
Harper has been in decent form for Linense this season with six goals in 19 matches and still hasn't given up hope of representing Scotland's senior side having previously been capped up to U19 level. "I still think about it", he said. "I’m a couple of great seasons away from knocking on the door. It sounds crazy right now but why not?"
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