Teen star set to leave Phoenix

The Wellington Phoenix look set to lose their brightest academy prospect, with general manager David Dome revealing the youngster’s import status has proven ‘‘a major hurdle’’ for the A-League club.

Schoolboy Calvin Harris, 18, lit up Westpac Stadium with an eye-catching debut for the Phoenix’s reserve team on Sunday.

Harris scored with a spectacular leftfooted strike that gave his side the early lead against Team Wellington and he showed a level of x-factor rarely seen by a player of that age in New Zealand.

‘‘It was a big moment for me because it’s the first time I’ve been on a stage like that here in Wellington so it was good to start with a goal,’’ Harris said. ‘‘I’ve watched it back a couple of times.’’

However, the striker’s chances of playing for the Phoenix at A-League level appear slim at best. Harris is moving to the United States in January to pursue an opportunity with the top-ranked Wake Forest University after failing to land a professional contract ahead of the 2018-19 season, and there is a feeling he could be lost for good.

Harris was born in England and grew up in Hong Kong, and would therefore occupy an import spot if he was to sign an A-League contract.

Generally the five import spots are taken up by the team’s five best players, and it would be a bold move to use one on an unproven teenager.

In the end, new coach Mark Rudan went with the safer option of using import spots on established professionals; Steven Taylor, Filip Kurto, Michal Kopczynski and Mandi. The club’s fifth import player, Roy Krishna, was already contracted through to the end of 2018-19.

‘‘It would have been an extraordinary call really to use the last import spot on a youth player,’’ Dome said. ‘‘Certainly it was considered but Calvin had to prove his wares with Mark. Obviously Mark went down a different path.’’

Although Rudan briefly assessed Harris before completing his import allocation, Harris was still making his way back from a serious hip injury he suffered while playing for the Phoenix at the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens earlier in the year.

Realising the injury would further hinder his chances of earning a contract, Harris travelled to the United States during the most recent school holidays to visit Wake Forest. ‘‘It was an injury that was building up so slowly and gradually it just got worse and worse, and that was just the final straw,’’ Harris said.