Former Nix Academy attacker set for MLS

Google Calvin Harris and you’ll read about the astonishingly successful Scottish DJ, record producer, singer and songwriter with 10 million Instagram followers and an estimated net worth of $300 million.

Dig a little deeper and you’ll find a young footballer forging a reputation, having cut his teeth as a teenager at the Wellington Phoenix Academy.

The rise of Calvin Harris since he left New Zealand in 2018 has been impressive. The 20-year-old attacker was selected second overall in last month’s Major League Soccer Super Draft, signed by FC Cincinnati.

“You can be picked, but having that true feeling of being wanted is the most important thing,” Harris told the Weekend Herald. “I spoke to [Cincinnati director of scouting and player recruitment] Hunter Freeman and it was a really good conversation. I could see and hear the interest he had in me and it kind of fell into place on the day. When I was picked by them, it was a good moment for me and I was excited straight away to get into training and for the future.”

Harris has spent the past two years at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, scoring 25 goals in 32 appearances and earning a Generation Adidas contract, offered by MLS to those with the potential to play professionally. It also guaranteed him a place in the 2021 draft and means his salary will sit outside the cap his team can spend on players.

The clubs with the first four picks in the Super Draft (Austin FC, FC Cincinnati, Houston and DC United) all contacted Harris before the draft, held via Zoom.

Cincinnati joined MLS as an expansion franchise in 2019 and are coached by former Manchester United and Dutch international defender Jaap Stam.

Harris, whose father Terry played for Sheffield Wednesday, was born in England, moved to Hong Kong at the age of 10 and then on to Wellington, where he was awarded a scholarship with the Phoenix at 14.

When then-Phoenix coach Mark Rudan didn’t want to gamble one of his five A-League import spots on an untested 18 year old, Harris headed to North Carolina.