Jack Clarke leaving would be an unfortunate, if not predictable, event

Well, we knew this would happen as soon as Leeds United didn’t get promoted, right?

It’s silly season in England now and while a lot of the focus will be on who Leeds should recruit for the next push towards promotion, most Leeds fans have come to the conclusion that a few players will be sold to fund the operating losses of the club and because of the personal ambition of the players. But did the rumours have to start so soon and did they have to be for Jack Clarke?

Jack Clarke has now been linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur, and while it seems that Leeds aren’t interested in selling the young winger, these things are rarely in the hands of just the club. The price is rumoured to be about £10 million, which seems like a lot until you remember that’s about what Leeds paid for Patrick Bamford from Middlesbrough and then it seems like a gross underpayment for a player with the sort of hype that Clarke has surrounding him.

For better or worse, this won’t be the first rumour about a player leaving Leeds this summer, and if he does go, he likely won’t be the only one. Leeds, like almost every other club in the Championship, lose money, even after player sales, and while it’s easy for fans to just assume that Andrea Radrizzani will spend money like Fosun at Wolverhampton or Dejphon Chansiri at Sheffield Wednesday, that doesn’t appear to be a realistic option for Radrizzani, no matter what we, as fans, want or hope him to do.

In the end, until Leeds are back in the Premier League, other teams with more money are going to come raid the club for players. And even if and when Leeds are promoted, they still won’t be safe from the money and allure of the “top six” clubs, who earn an absurd amount of television money from the Premier League and whatever European competition that they are in. It’s the unfortunate nature of modern football.

So until Leeds are gunning for European places with the likes of Everton, Leicester City, and big spending newcomers Wolverhampton, young talent will leave the club. The best thing to do is just try and maximize the return and find a few diamonds-in-the-rough to overcome the loss of players to the big dogs of the Premier League.