Tottenham’s Jack Clarke close to QPR loan

Jack Clarke has already returned to Spurs from his disastrous loan to Leeds United, his old club, but it looks as though he’s set to head back out to the Championship for the rest of the season. If the Evening Standard is correct, he’ll be staying in London as Tottenham Hotspur is close to an agreement with Queens Park Rangers for a loan to the end of the season.

We’ve talked a lot about how screwed up Clarke’s loan back at Leeds was this season — he was the odd man out after Marcelo Bielsa loaned five other players this season, and the Championship only allows for five loan players in any matchday squad. Since he was considered behind all of them, it meant Clarke only got token minutes at a side where he was a star last season.

At QPR, things might be different. He’ll be joining a club that already has one Spurs player on loan — defensive midfielder Luke Amos, who’s having a great season there — and he can also make friends with another player in Ebereche Eze, whom Spurs are said to want to sign this summer.

QPR is also managed by Mark Warburton, a Championship manager with close ties to the club. Spurs have sent a number of young players to clubs managed by Warburton, including former Tottenham player Alex Pritchard in 2014 when Warburton was at Brentford, and the 2015 double loan of Dominic Ball and Nathan Oduwa. There clearly seems to be a good working relationship there.

QPR has pretty good starting wingers — Eze on the left and Bright Osayi-Samuel on the right — but this loan would at least give Clarke more of a chance to impress and get first team minutes than he would at Leeds, or Tottenham. One would also think that Spurs got some assurances about playing time or at least the chance for such when making this loan. Hopefully Clarke will take advantage and put in some good performances.