Leeds United’s time in the lower leagues saw a lot of talented young players depart Elland Road before going onto bigger and better things.
Fabian Delph and Lewis Cook went on to become England internationals after departing the Yorkshire club, Ronaldo Vieira is starring in Serie A, while Charlie Taylor has been a Premier League regular for a long time now.
However, one player who isn’t setting the world alight after leaving Leeds is Jack Clarke.
Indeed, the winger has had a tough time of things since leaving United, and we can’t help but feel that the Whites sold him at the perfect time.
Clarke burst onto the scene at Elland Road during the 2018/19 season as a speedy teenager who wasn’t afraid to take anyone on. He scored two goals and crafted two assists under Marcelo Bielsa in just 814 minutes of league football, and understandably, those sorts of performances saw him catch the eyes of the Premier League.
It wasn’t long before the big clubs came knocking, and in the end it was Spurs who won the race for his signature, landing him for £10m.
£10m was steep for a player who’d only started four league games in his life, but Spurs were paying for his potential rather than his current ability.
However, it seems as though the winger hasn’t been able to deliver on that potential yet.
Indeed, the 2019/20 season was a slog for Clarke, he made just seven appearances in the Championship in two separate loan spells, failing to start a single game for either QPR or Leeds.
This season has been a little bit better for Clarke as he’s finally found a club where he can play regularly at Stoke City, but even then he’s not lighting up the division, starting just four games, failing to score a goal or register a single assist since joining the Potters.
Of course, we all hope that Clarke can turn things around, we saw glimpses of what he could be during his time at Leeds in that first season under Bielsa, but sadly, it seems as though he’s regressed since then, not scoring a single goal for any club he’s played for since his £10m move.
His stock has certainly fallen since his big-money switch to north London, and while it’s never good to see a player struggle, Leeds must take solace in the fact that they cashed in on him at the perfect time as it’s hard to imagine any club paying an eight-figure fee for Clarke after his recent struggles.
Clarke certainly has the talent to change the narrative here. After all, you don’t get described as a ‘complete player’ by Bielsa unless you’ve got something about you, but at the moment, it seems as though Leeds got the right deal at the right time for their former teenage prodigy.
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