Leeds United have a proven track record of producing youth talent at the club. Evidence of this can be seen in the current squad and in sides from League Two to the Premier League.
One of these starlets is youngster Jack Clarke. He moved from Leeds United to Tottenham Hotspur in the summer ahead of the 2019/20 season.
He’s not quite made the breakthrough and there is much noise of him heading back to the Championship on loan. However, per the Northern Echo, one destination he won’t be going is Middlesbrough.
Some of the noise about Clarke
As mentioned, there has been a lot of noise from various sources that Jack Clarke will be on the move and that his destination would be the Sky Bet Championship.
Sky Sports’ Live Blog said that five Championship sides were in the running to land the 20-year-old Spurs man. They named Middlesbrough as one of that quintet: Sheffield Wednesday, Stoke City, Coventry City and Swansea City making up the others.
Other sites had pundits making their predictions and airing their opinions of where they thought that Clarke best suited.
Overall, the general consensus is that he would be a player on the move and that sides such as these were where he would land.
Jack Clarke – a little background
Clarke made a name for himself as he moved up the age groups at Elland Road. He initially cracked the first-team seal during the 2018/19 Championship campaign. He made 22 appearances that season, scoring two goals and providing two assists.
That saw Spurs interested enough to spend £10m to take him to north London. Part of that deal saw a loan-back arrangement to Leeds United. However, he got just a 19-minute run-out on his birthday and was recalled by Spurs.
He was then loaned back out to the Championship and QPR. He featured just seven times for the Loftus Road outfit before the season’s end and a return to his parent club.
Warnock’s words on Clarke interest
Obviously, there has to be some degree of noise that Jack Clarke is ‘interesting’ Middlesbrough. If there wasn’t, then there’d be no need for Boro boss, Neil Warnock, to answer questions about it.
Yet, per the Northern Echo, that is what he did. Chief Sports Writer, Scott Wilson, writes that Warnock will not be taking gambles on untried youngsters in January.
More pointedly, Warnock dismisses any talk of interest in Jack Clarke. He says unequivocally: “I don’t want to be disrespectful to Jack, and I’m sure he’s a very good player, but I’ve not seen anything of him.”
Warnock continues by adding that Middlesbrough is, instead, looking for tried-and-tested players who can come in and make a difference from day one.
Warnock is clear on both Jack Clarke ‘interest’ and the type of player he’ll be looking at in January. Such is this dual clarity, surely a line is drawn through any links of Clarke to the Riverside.
