Costly ex-Portsmouth and Ipswich man on the move yet again - with fifth club since Fratton Park exit in 2022
The former Ipswich man scored 20 goals in 84 appearances for the Blues
A former Pompey striker is on the move yet again - this time returning to where he started his career.
Ellis Harrison has joined his fifth club in three-and-a-half years since leaving Fratton Park under Danny Cowley.
Now aged 31, the centre-forward has completed a switch to Bristol Rovers on a free transfer following his release from MK Dons.
Harrison has become much-travelled in recent years after a Pompey spell which didn’t quite click, although he was largely employed from the bench.
Joined Portsmouth for £450,000
Kenny Jackett splashed out £450,000 on signing him from Ipswich in June 2019 in a summer which also saw the Blues spend heavily on John Marquis and Marcus Harness.
With finances bolstered by the sale of Matt Clarke to Brighton and the impending transfer of Jamal Lowe to Wigan, the attacking trio were meant to spearhead another promotion push.
However, Harrison scored just nine league goals during his two-and-a-half-year Fratton Park stay and ended up leaving for Fleetwood for a nominal fee in January 2022.
Now, after spells at Fleetwood, Port Vale, MK Dons and Walsall, he has rejoined Bristol Rovers, where he came through the ranks to win two promotions.
‘We trust each other. He’s done a lot for my career. I give 100 per cent for him and I always have and always will.
‘When he gave me the call about coming back to Rovers, it was an easy decision for me to come back and play for this Club again.’
Harrison featured 205 times for Bristol Rovers and scored 52 goals before moving to Ipswich for £750,000 in Jul 2018, yet within a year had made the switch to Fratton Park.
Following Pompey’s elimination in the League One play-offs at the hands of Sunderland at the semi-final stage, Jackett added the striker along with Marquis, Harness, James Bolton, Ryan Williams, Paul Downing and Sean Raggett in the summer of 2019.
Regardless, in the Covid-shortened 2019-20 campaign, the Blues once again lost in the play-offs, this time to Oxford United in a semi-final penalty shoot-out.
Harrison’s time at Fratton Park, though, was impacted by injury and failure to produce consistency, with the majority of his 84 appearances coming off the bench.
He would total 20 goals, yet these mainly arrived in cup competitions, including a hat-trick in the EFL Trophy at AFC Wimbledon in September 2021.
Portsmouth hat-trick - yet still defeat
However, Pompey still lost the Plough Lane fixture 5-3 after conceding three goals in the final 10 minutes - while Harrison scored just once more in his Blues career.
After failing to net in 11 appearances in the first half of 2021-22, and with his contract entering the final six months and not being renewed, Cowley opted to cash in and sell him to Fleetwood for around £40,000.
After six goals in 20 games for the Cod Army, he was sold to Port Vale in August 2022 and then MK Dons in September 2023, once again for an undisclosed fee.
Having finished last season on loan at Walsall, with three goals in 12 appearances helping book a play-off spot, he was let go by the Dons.
And now Harrison has joined Bristol Rovers on a 12-month deal, having spent part of the summer attending the PFA training camp in Leicestershire.