So you’re telling me there’s a chance.
There’s been no shortage of reports suggesting that Jack Clarke might be heading back to Tottenham Hotspur in the January transfer window, with even former players suggesting that the move needs to happen sooner rather than later. However by the sounds of it, Leeds United and Spurs understand the situation and both clubs seem happy with what’s going on.
Speaking to Football Insider, Noel Whelan claims that Marcelo Bielsa and Mauricio Pochettino have been in close contact with each other throughout the season and that there’s a great understanding about the situation.
“From what I’ve heard about Bielsa, he will be in talks with Pochettino regularly about Clarke. Bielsa will be telling him what’s going on in training, Clarke’s attitude, performance and effort, and why he isn’t in the side. They know each other well and Pochettino will be getting the full picture of what’s going on. Tottenham sent him back to Leeds because they trust Bielsa’s ability to develop young players.”
So by the sounds of it, Clarke isn’t going to be going anywhere in the near future. Whilst there may be reports and suggestions that Clarke will be recalled in January, the fact that there hasn’t been anything official from Tottenham Hotspur to suggest that they are going to recall him is probably a big indicator that they aren’t going to.
Whelan speaks about how they sent him to Leeds because of their trust in Bielsa to develop young players, so it sounds like they are putting all their faith on him being able to do that within the confines of the training ground rather than banking it all on the amount of game time he has been getting.
Should Clarke be sent back to Tottenham?
Yes
No
Whilst obviously the number of minutes he’s played could be higher, he has got closer to the first team in recent weeks, from being out of the matchday squad completely to now being on the bench. With a couple of weeks to go until the January window opens, it’s possible that he finally takes that final step and gets some minutes in the league between now and then. Then all this talk about a recall could slowly fade away.