Tottenham are in ongoing talks with Leeds about a move for 18-year-old attacker Jack Clarke, according to the Evening Standard.
The fee hasn’t been agreed yet but the report claims it could be done for £8.5million.
It is claimed that Clarke would be being bought to challenge for a place in the Spurs first-team and that would scupper a loan-back deal that has been mooted by Leeds.
OPINION
Leeds need to sell to strengthen this season and while fans don’t want to see Clarke go, they’re resigned that it could well happen. And they would prefer Clarke to be sold than someone like Kalvin Phillips. However, we don’t think they’ll be happy if he goes for £8.5million and they’ll be furious if he’s sold for that price without a loan-back deal. Clarke broke through into the Leeds first-team last season and put in some blistering performances before he suffered a virus that caused his season to fizzle out. He’s only 18 though and big things are expected of him. He was even name-checked by Gary Lineker as a future England star and £8.5million does seem like a deal that Spurs would be getting the better side of. A previous report mentioned £12million but the Sun’s transfer expert Alan Nixon said he expected Tottenham to try and lowball Leeds in the knowledge that they need cash. That’s true and Leeds need it in time to re-invest in new players themselves this summer. That could mean they fall victim to Daniel Levy, a notoriously tough negotiator.