Former Leeds United striker Noel Whelan has praised Tottenham loanee Jack Clarke for his recent performances for the Championship side.
Speaking to Football Insider, the BBC commentator waxed lyrical about the teenage winger following his League Cup appearance for Leeds against Salford City last week, a game in which Clarke impressed despite coming off 70 minutes in against the League Two team.
Whelan said: “What we did see was a young man that seems to have matured a bit from a season in the Championship.
“He seemed stronger on the ball, he wasn’t doing too much and we know what he can do. What he needed to do more of was defending through the 90 minutes. I wasn’t sure he could have done that, to be honest, with just a pre-season under his belt.
“Out of possession, wow. He was sprinting to get back, get the right side of the attackers and help Leif (Davis) out on the left-hand side. That was actually more pleasing to me because we now know he can put in 90 minutes of both sides of the game, which is more important when you’re out of possession.”
Clarke was signed from Leeds this summer for a reported fee of £10m according to BBC Sport and was immediately loaned out back to the Championship side that came close to Premier League promotion lasts season, with Marcelo Bielsa’s side falling in the play-off semi-finals to Derby County.
The teenage winger was the first player Spurs had signed in over 18 months and was the first of four players to join Mauricio Pochettino’s side this summer, with the north London side breaking their club-record transfer fee on Lyon midfielder Tanguy Ndombele as well as bringing in Ryan Sessegnon and Giovani Lo Celso on deadline day.