Phil Hay may no longer work for the Yorkshire Evening Post, but the former Leeds writer has had the United fanbase reacting over the weekend to a potential player coming to Elland Road for the new Championship campaign.
Not all of the Whites supporters reacting to his claims were overly happy to see them, however, as Hay has suggested United product Jack Clarke is expected to re-join Leeds for the 2019/20 season on loan once his permanent transfer to Tottenham Hotspur goes through.
The deal to take the teenager to North London is thought to be close to being finalised, with an official announcement potentially coming as early as July 1.
Reports have already surfaced claiming Clarke will earn a base £20,000-a-week with Spurs, having never been offered a new contract in West Yorkshire despite his breakthrough into Marcelo Bielsa’s first-team. Offering the winger a new deal could have kept his services on our books without the need for a loan, too, as his camp had been hoping to open negotiations.
Now, he looks set to complete an £8.5million move to the Champions League Finalists, with the deal carrying add-ons that could see the overall fee reach £13million.
Taking Clarke back on loan for a year could see that fee look like peanuts, though, especially if he goes on to put in top-draw performances that help us secure a top-flight berth for the 2020/21 campaign.
Former United defender Danny Mills certainly feels another year in the Championship could boost his market value, having claimed: “Leeds would be better off keeping a player who would play 25 to 30 games next season, may help them get promotion and, if he does well, he could be worth £25m to £30million in a year’s time.
“I just think £8million is far too lowball. There may be add-ons, but they are not guaranteed, and he is hardly to going to be playing regularly for Tottenham, not with the quality of their players.”
Claims that Clarke could now spend the upcoming term at Elland Road but on loan has not gone down well with these fans…
Meh.
— Matt. (@MattJLufc) June 30, 2019
That’s exactly how I feel..not a fan of this one bit
— thomas banks (@ThomasBanks1985) June 30, 2019
If he’s going I’d rather him just leave
— Matt. (@MattJLufc) June 30, 2019
Why should leeds continue to develop a player who isnt ours anymore.
— We All Love Leeds u23 (@Leeds______) June 30, 2019
Don’t want to waste one of the 5 Loan spaces on him. Would much rather get a better winger. Just my opinion.
— Claudio (@claudiolufc) June 30, 2019
He’ll help us get up, we buy him back for 20 mill and with a 20% sell on clause, he’ll only cost us a couple of mill or so with the add ons pic.twitter.com/5CvEQM8Xef
— Prem Leeds ???????? (@premierleeds2) June 30, 2019
Can’t help but think there feels like bad blood now between him and us…
— Adam Clark (@addss2) June 30, 2019
Doesn’t make any sense to me this, rather he just went and stay went! Ha. I bet he’ll have a clause on how much he HAS to play. So he’d get game time regardless of form
— Mike (@Maverick2405) June 30, 2019