JACK'S JOURNEY

Ahead of our encounter today with Leeds United, we caught up with winger JACK CLARKE, who came through the Whites’ youth academy before joining us in the summer of 2019, to talk about life for him since that move south.

- Liam Carson

What a learning experience it has been for Jack Clarke in the early steps of his footballing career.

Despite having only turned 20 just over a month ago, Jack has already enjoyed quite the education in the game.

A product of the youth academy of today’s opponents Leeds United, the winger was a shining light in white during his debut season in 2018/19 at Elland Road after he was given his first appearance for United at the age of 17.

That first step into the game was presented to him by current Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa and our young man from York went from strength to strength under the Argentine boss, excelling in the Championship campaign as the West Yorkshire outfit ultimately fell just short in their charge for promotion. He was also named the Leeds United Young Player of the Year for his performances that season.

The following summer, Jack signed for us on a four-year deal but, as part of that move, he returned to his former side on loan ahead of the 2019/20 campaign. Back at Leeds however, minutes on the pitch came few and far between for the forward, and in January, he returned to the capital to spend the second half of the campaign with Championship outfit QPR. The move to Rangers helped him acclimatize to his new home of London while it also gave him more game time.

More importantly for the youngster though, across those two loan spells, he believes he learned some valuable lessons that will help him continue to progress and develop, lessons which he has been applying each day since returning to Hotspur Way in the summer as he continues to put in the hard work to try to force his way into our first team.