Report: Clarke to be loaned back to Leeds next season after Spurs signing

There’s potentially a twist in the Jack Clarke transfer saga. According to former Yorkshire Evening Post Leeds journalist Phil Hay, Tottenham have still signed Clarke as everyone has already announced, but now it seems that Spurs intend to loan him back to Leeds for the 2019-20 season.

Hay no longer works for the YEP, but he’s obviously still connected to Leeds United sources. He was one of the people who broke that Spurs were going to sign him in the first place. if this is accurate, it would be an interesting turn — previous reports had indicated that Clarke, 18, was set to stay in London and fight for his place in the first team instead of returning to Leeds on loan. This would suggest that either Pochettino thinks he needs another season of first team football in the Championship, or that Clarke/Leeds made this a condition of the sale.

It’s unlikely that Clarke would’ve made a huge impact at Spurs next season anyway. He’s obviously a player Spurs signed for the future, since he’s joining Spurs on the back of only 800 minutes of Championship football last season. He’d have taken the Georges-Kevin Nkoudou role on the team, brought out for cup competitions and the occasional late game substitution. I don’t hate the idea of a loanback here — Spurs did this with Dele Alli when they signed him from League One MK Dons a few years back — it’d just be a curious turn from what we heard earlier.

Spurs are expected to make the announcement about Clarke on Monday. Presumably this will all become clear then.