Jack Clarke has not played a single game yet for Tottenham Hotspur but it is his lack of minutes at Leeds United that has got people talking.
The 18-year-old signed for Spurs this summer in a £9m deal before being loaned back to the Championship club for the season.
Clarke got plenty of minutes last season, often from the bench, under Marcelo Bielsa last season as he learned his trade for Leeds.
However, going back to United as a loan player presents a new problem because Football League rules state that a team can only name six loan players in a matchday squad and Leeds, with Clark, have six.
The teenager has found himself out of the last two matchday squads in the Championship and has had to settle for League Cup football and U23s matches so far.
Many Spurs fans have asked whether Clarke can be called back to the north London side if he continues to struggle for game time.
football.london understands that every season-long loan Tottenham agree to for their players comes with a January recall clause as standard practice.
Spurs will keep an eye on his situation at Leeds and as with any player out on loan, they will review his situation in the winter window.
Clarke is still young and time is on his side. He would be unlikely to get any more game time at Tottenham but it may be the case that in January the club could look to move him on to another Championship side to aid his development, unless Mauricio Pochettino feels that simply training under his old mentor Bielsa would continue to be good for the teenager.
Bielsa made a point on Friday of indicating that Clarke will get minutes under his belt in the weeks ahead.
"For me he’s an important player who has very good individual skills, one vs one," responded Bielsa to a question about the young midfielder in his latest press conference.
"There are reasons enough to say nothing is special about why he is not in the 18 players in the last two games.
"We have a lot of matches in the month of August. Very probably the next game on Tuesday a lot of players who didn’t play before will be in the squad.
"In this moment I am focusing on three wingers. They are putting in good performances, but Clarke will be in or be a substitute of one of them."
