Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has admitted that Tottenham are currently in talks with the Championship side over recalling Dane Scarlett in January.
Scarlett is thought of by many at Spurs as a future first-team prospect, with Ange Postecoglou admitting back in August that he quite liked what he saw from the striker on the training ground (Football.London).
The decision was made to send the teenager to on loan to Ipswich so that he can get game time but that has not worked out for the 19-year-old, who has come on as a substitute in all 12 of his appearances in the Championship this season.
The main reason the England Under-21 international has struggled to get a look-in is that the Tractor Boys have far exceeded expectations this season, currently sitting second in the table.
Scarlett could be heading back to Tottenham
McKenna has now confirmed that Spurs have reached out to the club over Scarlett, admitting that the North London club are likely to recall the player.
He told BBC Radio Suffolk (via East Anglian Daily Times) about the striker’s future: “There are conversations with Tottenham at the moment. I think it looks very likely that he’ll be recalled.
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“Tottenham have injury issues at the moment and they have their main forward [Son Heung-min] going to the Asian Cup at the start of January as well.
“So there have been discussions over the last few days and there’s a fair chance that he’ll be recalled from the start of January.”
McKenna insisted that despite the fact that Scarlett could not get starts, the Tottenham man would have learned a lot from his experience at Portman Road Stadium.
The 37-year-old added: “He’s a really talented player, we enjoyed having him here. He arrived really late in the window after a disrupted pre-season not having played any minutes, so he was always going to be playing catch-up.
“The players who have been playing have been doing so, so well, so he hasn’t had as many starts as he would have liked. But he’s made 12 appearances at the very top end of the Championship.
“He’s had some good contributions for us. I think he’s taken a lot away, hopefully, from the environment and his time at the club and I think he goes back a stronger player and we hope to see good things from him in the future.”
Spurs Web Opinion
I doubt if Son heading to the Asian Cup has had any bearing on Tottenham’s decision to recall Scarlett. I believe it is down to the youngster’s struggles for game time and I fully expect Spurs to loan the 19-year-old to side a further down the Championship table for the second half of the campaign.
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