After capturing the signings of Jack Harrison and Liam McCarron today, you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking that there’d be a one in, one out policy, at Elland Road.
However, that doesn’t seem to be the case in the wide man department, not yet anyway. Phil Hay is reporting that when Jack Clarke finally completes his long-awaited transfer, Clarke will be loaned back to Leeds United for a season.
Now there have been one or two Leeds fans who have balked at the suggestion of him being loaned back for a season, because he technically isn’t a Leeds player anymore and would take up a loan spot. However, I think that it’s a move Leeds United can seriously benefit from.
Former Leeds United player Danny Mills came out and said last week he thinks this move is bad for Clarke, because he needs to be playing first-team games rather than being stuck in the U23s, so he’ll be happy with the development. He said that at the age of eighteen, a player with that potential should be playing week in, week out, rather than just being used predominantly as a late substitute.
Why do teams send players out on loan? To give them game time.
Mauricio Pochettino isn’t going to want to send Clarke back to Leeds if he isn’t playing games, if he isn’t developing. This will be Jack Clarke’s chance to get a consistent run of games. Last year he only made four starts and came off the bench eighteen times in the league. He showed in spurts what he was capable of, so just imagine what he is going to be able to conjure up if he is a regular starter for Bielsa’s men next term.
Jack Clarke is going to be fighting for a Premier League place whilst in the Championship, he’s going to have to show to Pochettino that he belongs in that Spurs side ahead of the likes of Dele Alli, Heung Min-Son and Lucas Moura, he’s not going to want to just take the year off.
What Leeds United will get next year is a much more confident Clarke, a Clarke that knows he can make it in the Premier League, otherwise, they wouldn’t be willing to spend the money on him. Now let’s say that joy of joys, Leeds United get promoted.
Then Pochettino will be in the same boat. Does he let him develop in North London, or allow Clarke to prove himself in the top flight whilst at Elland Road? That’s why despite letting him go this summer, United fans could still see the rising star in a Leeds shirt for some time to come.