Jayden Harris last kicked a competitive ball for Carlisle United in February. He last started a competitive game last October.

And yes, footballers have jobs that most of us would normally dream of doing. They are not handed gruelling lifestyles even in the lesser times.

All the same, it can’t be a doddle being many miles from home, unable to do the thing you’re paid to do because, at that particular moment, others are deemed better at it than you.

Last season, even though it proved magnificent for the Cumbrians, cannot have been a walk in the park for Harris.

It has, then, been heartening to see the midfielder attacking what looks like something of a fresh start this summer.

Harris still looks raw in some ways – you know a challenge, and quite possibly a booking, is still following him onto the pitch like a twin – but he has also shown good things in pre-season.

Could this be a breakthrough campaign for the 23-year-old?

Paul Simpson has not given up on that possibility, the manager again this week talking up Harris’s progress over the last few weeks.

Simpson has laid it out clearly that Harris, in his size, stride and energy levels, still has some of the tools to be a player apart.

"The one player who's done really well for me over pre-season in midfield has been Jayden Harris," Simpson said on Thursday.

"I'm really hoping he can carry that into the league fixtures - when he gets that opportunity, he's got to show us that energy, and that snap he's got going into tackles.

"He's getting into the box and into goalscoring areas as well, which is a great skill to have."

The difficulty is in putting these elements together now in League One, bearing in mind regular League Two football was not in his grasp.

Yet football must, even in this instant age, still offer a reward for patience at times. This would be a good message to send should 2023/24 turn into the year of Harris.