You have to assume there was an assurance of first team football that to now has not been met because there's no way we would have signed him just to make him spend a season in the Leeds reserves when he could have been integrated slowly with us (and probably would have started tomorrow).
Well, supposedly Poch didn't want him anyway.
He’s no future here under Poch unless he changes his game, he’s an out and out winger, Poch has no use for them
In the games in which he impressed me he was far from a pure winger. V Derby he was swapping flanks, passing long and short with either foot, cutting in and shooting, crossing from all angles, using his head. I’d not play him as a number 10 anytime soon, but he’s very much the modern wideman and I’ve been rather baffled onlooking as this rhetoric around him being ‘just a winger’ has fathered pace. He may be primarily a winger but that is true of basically every single great inside forward of the past 15 years at Clarke’s age bar Messi. Ronaldo, Bale, Robben, Sterling now, even owe own Son. To say that at 18, an athletic, gifted, fast player is never going to make it with Pochettino (or any manager for that matter) is as daft as people saying with certainty that Kane would never make it in the premier league as recently as 6 seasons ago.He’s no future here under Poch unless he changes his game, he’s an out and out winger, Poch has no use for them
In the games in which he impressed me he was far from a pure winger. V Derby he was swapping flanks, passing long and short with either foot, cutting in and shooting, crossing from all angles, using his head. I’d not play him as a number 10 anytime soon, but he’s very much the modern wideman and I’ve been rather baffled onlooking as this rhetoric around him being ‘just a winger’ has fathered pace. He may be primarily a winger but that is true of basically every single great inside forward of the past 15 years at Clarke’s age bar Messi. Ronaldo, Bale, Robben, Sterling now, even owe own Son. To say that at 18, an athletic, gifted, fast player is never going to make it with Pochettino (or any manager for that matter) is as daft as people saying with certainty that Kane would never make it in the premier league as recently as 6 seasons ago.
He’s one of those players for whom the nonsensical phrase ‘deceptive pace’ will be used because rather than being built/ running like Maurice Green, he’s languid, much like Bale at that age. Whether he piles on the muscle like Bale did to become explosive, or he stays lithe more like an Anelka or a Kanoute is another matter, but I assure you, ball at his feet (which is what matters) the boy is quick.I appreciate you really rate Jack Clarke but is he really that quick? One of my big concerns with him is he always seems a bit one paced, doesn't seem to have that real explosive bit of acceleration or speed that you see from the likes of Sterling, Messi, Ronaldo, Bale, Robben etc that you mentioned.
Genuine question not a dig, as I know you have watched much more of him than most here.
He’s one of those players for whom the nonsensical phrase ‘deceptive pace’ will be used because rather than being built/ running like Maurice Green, he’s languid, much like Bale at that age. Whether he piles on the muscle like Bale did to become explosive, or he stays lithe more like an Anelka or a Kanoute is another matter, but I assure you, ball at his feet (which is what matters) the boy is quick.
Far more important to me though is his brain and technique. The boy has verve.
In the games in which he impressed me he was far from a pure winger. V Derby he was swapping flanks, passing long and short with either foot, cutting in and shooting, crossing from all angles, using his head. I’d not play him as a number 10 anytime soon, but he’s very much the modern wideman and I’ve been rather baffled onlooking as this rhetoric around him being ‘just a winger’ has fathered pace. He may be primarily a winger but that is true of basically every single great inside forward of the past 15 years at Clarke’s age bar Messi. Ronaldo, Bale, Robben, Sterling now, even owe own Son. To say that at 18, an athletic, gifted, fast player is never going to make it with Pochettino (or any manager for that matter) is as daft as people saying with certainty that Kane would never make it in the premier league as recently as 6 seasons ago.
Thanks for sharing but I'm none the wiser as to his chances of actually playing!This is a small update on Clarke.
Leeds United boss Marcelo Bielsa makes Jack Clarke prediction
Jack Clarke has struggled for game-time since returning to Elland Road on loan from Tottenham in the summerwww.leeds-live.co.uk
Unused sub against QPR.