Jack Tucker nearly joined non-league Hastings for free last year, Gillingham manager Steve Evans says of the reported Leeds United, Celtic and Rangers target in conversation with Kent Live.
While it’s fair to say an outspoken Scot is not the most popular figure in English football, a talented young centre-half will forever be indebted to the faith Evans has placed in him at Priestfield.
After a superb breakthrough season at the third-tier outfit, there is a very real chance that Tucker will be playing at a much higher level in 2020/21 with Premier League and Champions League clubs taking an interest.
The £1.5 million-rated defender has been linked with a move to Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds, potentially as a replacement for the superb Ben White at Elland Road.
Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers have been linked too with a player Evans believes has Premier League potential in his boots, via The Mail.
But if a former Leeds, Rotherham and Crawley Town boss had not been handed the reigns by Gillingham last summer, Tucker might now be plying his trade in the eighth-tier of English football instead.
“You hear about young lads partying and socialising and in betting shops. I want people like Jack Tucker. When he goes home, if his parents are working, he might put the tea on. He is a level-headed good lad but he can play and that’s the first thing,” Evans explains.
“When we arrived Jack Tucker was going to be released. (He) was probably going to Hastings.”
As the Mail points out, Gillingham may have no choice but to cash in on their prized asset this summer with the Kent-based outfit hit hard, like every lower league club, by football’s ongoing financial crisis.
A move to Leeds would see Tucker work under Bielsa, a coach famed across the globe for his ability to mould raw potential into star quality.
He is a million miles away from the Isthmian League now.
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