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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
According to reports from The Sun, Jack Clarke will sign for Tottenham in a deal worth an initial £8.5m.
Clarke to Spurs has been an ongoing transfer saga, but it seems as if that one is set to be put to bed sooner rather than later.
What’s the story?
This is a far cry from the £20m the Whites quotes the London club last month, and it is an even lower initial fee than the £10m Mauricio Pochettino’s side had reportedly bid earlier in the window.
There are reportedly add-ons that will take the deal to around £13m at a later date, but this has to be seen as a poor piece of business from the Yorkshire outfit.
Questions to be asked
The fanbase must have some serious questions about Victor Orta’s negotiating abilities if this reported price is true.
Leeds valued their teenage sensation at £20m, but here we are a few weeks later and they are receiving less than half of that amount this summer.
Of course, that may go up to £13m in time, but United aren’t a club that have a lot of time to waste. They are reportedly working on a sell before they buy policy during this window and to receive less than half of what they wanted for one of their most valuable players could be disastrous.
Orta has a lot of explaining to do on this one as this deal doesn’t seem in line with what has been reported over the past few weeks.
Many fans are furious at this deal and rightly so. The Spaniard has failed to out-negotiate Daniel Levy, and it may cost Leeds this season as their transfer budget this summer won’t be what they wanted due to the fact they are going to sell Clarke for £11.5m less than they had hoped for.