Many Newcastle fans have taken to Twitter to share their frustrations after 16-year-old Bobby Clark sealed a move to Liverpool.
It was revealed by the NUFC 360 account that the teenager had completed a permanent switch to the Merseyside club, much to the disappointment of Newcastle fans.
The attacking midfielder was highly rated at Newcastle after making his U’18 debut aged just 14, whilst he also had a family connection to the club, as he is the son of former Newcastle midfielder Lee Clark.
However, the prospect of playing for Liverpool in the future was clearly too good for the England youth international to turn down and Newcastle have unfortunately lost another bright prospect from their academy.
How did Newcastle fans react to Clark’s exit?
“#nufc under Ashley summed up in one transfer. Local kids used to dream of one day playing for us. These academy lads have grown up under Ashley’s ownership and see nothing there for them. They’re now using our academy as a stepping stone to a better one. Shameful.”
Credit: @GavinHedley
“Club is dying, surely the time has come to protest properly.”
Credit: @andy_teasdale
“Don’t blame the lad. Easy choice to make, same if it were any team in the PL who wanted him, valued him, had the resources & ambition to nurture his talent. At nufc he’s likely refilling the wheelie bin ice baths or fetching the ball from jonjo or big Joe’s wayward efforts.”
Should Newcastle be doing more to keep young players?
These Newcastle fans are clearly not impressed that one of their brightest academy talents was poached so easily but given that very few players from Newcastle’s academy have broken into the first-team in recent seasons, it is easy to see why Clark was keen to leave.
Unless the Toon start doing more to keep hold of young players such as Clark and give them a clear pathway into the first-team, then it seems very unlikely that they will discover the next Peter Beardsley or Paul Gascoigne from the academy.
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