Can supporters count on Jack Clarke signing for Tottenham?

Anticipation and excitement is growing in Tottenham, as supporters wait with bated breath to hear confirmation of Jack Clarke signing from Leeds.

The Evening Standard is reporting that a deal between the two clubs is on the horizon, with Leeds and Tottenham purportedly agreeing on an £8.5 million transfer fee. This is the closest Spurs have been to signing a player of Clarke’s potential in recent memory.

Usually when the Evening Standard uses language like “Clarke is expected to compete for a place in the Spurs first-team this season”, you can rest assuredly knowing a transfer is on the cusp of being cemented. It’s still slightly too early to break out the champagne, but stay tuned, as this deal has a great chance of being finalized this week. And yes, we’ve all heard this before. Optimism, however, is required to help the football Gods get this one over the line.

Clarke, however, is still totally untested at the top and is certainly unseasoned in terms of pressure cooker matches. He enjoyed a solid season at Leeds but is still a teenager with loads to learn.

Saying he is expected to compete for a place in the first team is massively overreaching. Again, he could, like Foyth when he first arrived, obtain a spot in the squad but even that’s wishful thinking.

Clarke will be a future star of the Premier League, so Tottenham supporters should be over the moon with the prospect of gaining a player of his abundant skill set. Spurs have a history of turning lower league signings, including Gareth Bale, Aaron Lennon, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker, and Dele Alli, into gold, so let’s hope Clarke fits a similar bill.

The speedy midfielder made 25 appearances for Leeds in 2018-19, most of which as a substitute. Clarke bagged two goals in his first season with the Yorkshire club.

While we’re certainly not counting any chickens, this feels like a deal even Daniel Levy can get over the line without too much back and forth. It’s a relatively paltry amount of money for a teenage proposition. Even Levy can part ways with £8.5 million without losing too much sleep. It still might give him a nagging, debilitating case of indigestion in the short-term, though.