Angus Kinnear confirms Clarke to return to Spurs but question mark still hangs over Nketiah

There has been much speculation about a couple of Leeds United’s loan signings over the past few months with both Jack Clarke and Eddie Nketiah getting limited game time so far this season. Clarke has only played three times for Leeds this season since his £9 million summer move to Spurs and subsequent loan back. Two starts in the League Cup and one substitute appearance in the Championship of only 19 minutes are the limit of the young wingers first team opportunities with fierce competition behind Helder Costa, Jack Harrison and Gjanni Alioski.

Ending the speculation on Clarke, Angus Kinnear used his programme notes from the Boxing Day game to inform that Jack Clarke would indeed be returning to Spurs, confirming a story broken by Phil Hay in the athletic earlier in the day. Thanking Clarke he said…

We thank Jack Clarke for his services and wish him the best of luck in his career as Spurs have confirmed, due to the lack of playing time, he will be recalled in the January window.

The summer sale of Clarke divided opinion after his breakout 2018/19 season. A pretty impressive season for an emerging young player but it was clear that Leeds needed to sell to invest and Clarke was always the likely candidate to bring in the cash. Despite those impressive performances in his first season, Clarke had faded towards the end of his first season and Marcelo Bielsa has clearly not been impressed enough for Clarke to feature much this term. Clarke will undoubtedly go on to have a great career but is obviously not a player Marcelo Bielsa thinks Leeds need for the run-in.





Kinnear also spoke about Eddie Nketiah, though the question mark still hangs over the future of his loan deal. Nketiah’s opportunities have also been limited though he has made more of an impact than Clarke scoring five goals in two League Cup starts and fourteen substitute appearances in the Championship. A hot prospect, the loan signing of Nketiah was a big deal for Leeds and Arsenal will be keen to ensure the England U21 striker is getting the right development at Leeds. If they don’t think he is there are plenty of Championship clubs who would snap him up with Bristol City the rumoured destination. The Leeds Managing Director said…

I appreciate much speculation still surrounds the immediate future of Eddie Nketiah and although Arsenal have the right to recall him in January, we still beleive he can make a huge impact over the remainder of the season at Leeds United. Accordingley, we are endeavouring to convince Eddie and the technical team at Arsenal that the coaching environment and profile of the playing opportunity at Throp Arch and Elland Road is still the best choice for his long-term development.