Former Tottenham Hotspur winger Jack Clarke has admitted that his time at the north London club did not go to plan.
Clarke, who was 18 at the time, joined Tottenham in the summer of 2019 for an initial £8.5million transfer fee and was immediately sent back on loan to Leeds United for the 2019/20 campaign, with the Elland Road outfit still being in the Championship at the time.
He became Spurs’ first signing in 517 days since Lucas Moura joined from PSG after the club somewhat famously decided not to sign any fresh faces in two transfer windows, a decision which backfired in the progression of their fortunes under Mauricio Pochettino.
Clarke’s return to Leeds proved to be a step backwards and also struggled during a later stint at QPR later in the campaign but the winger did show some promise during his loan spell at Stoke City in the second half of the following season.
The winger ended up joining Sunderland initially on loan and completed a permanent switch to the Black Cats in the summer after they secured their return to the Championship having made just four appearances in all competitions for Spurs (The Athletic).
Clarke has claimed that he does not consider his time at Tottenham to be unsuccessful and instead insisted he has learned from the coaches he worked under to help progress his game.
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“Obviously it didn’t pan out the way I or Tottenham had envisioned, or how the people around me envisioned it,” Clarke told Sky Sports.
“It probably looks unsuccessful from an outside perspective, but on a personal note I didn’t consider it unsuccessful.
“I felt I developed a lot as a player under good managers, and with good players around me. It was good for my personal growth and development.”
SpursWeb Opinion
Clarke was thrown in at the deep end at Tottenham at a time where Mauricio Pochettino had not been backed in multiple transfer windows by Daniel Levy. At 18, it was to much of an ask for the winger to try to break into the first team and after bouncing around on loan, it is good to see he is now settled at Sunderland as he looks to get his career back on track.
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