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Spurs favourites ahead of Man Utd and Bayern Munich to sign Newcastle’s top young prospect – Report

4 years ago
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An exclusive on Friday morning reports that Spurs have now emerged as the new favourites to land Newcastle United’s best young prospect.

The report from The Mail says that Mourinho’s new club have moved ahead of Bayern Munich, Manchester United and others.

The player in question is midfielder Bobby Clark, son of one of Keven Keegan’s entertainers, Lee Clark.

Back in September we reported (see below) how Clark junior was making a name for himself, the youngest player in Newcastle United history to play for the NUFC Under 18s, aged just 14 years and 206 days.

The Mail says that Steve Bruce also believes that the 14 year old is the most likely star of the future amongst the younger age group.

The newspaper also revealing that Bobby Clark will be joining up with the England Under 15s when they face Turkey and the Republic of Ireland in December.

Newcastle have lost a number of young promising players in the Mike Ashley era and the most high profile one recently was when Lewis Gibson chose to move to Everton after winning the Under 17s World Cup with England.

The report says that concerns over the infrastructure of the club’s academy remain and indeed a big part of Rafa Benitez deciding to leave, was the refusal by Mike Ashley to back a major shake up of the Academy and the rest of the infrastructure, especially the essential state of the art new training complex promised by the NUFC owner in 2013.

If Bobby Clark was advised by dad Lee to move away from Newcastle United, it would be a serious red flag as to the future health of NUFC’s younger age groups. Though not the greatest surprise with so few players emerging through the ranks at Newcastle under Ashley’s ownership, until the emergence of the Longstaff brothers, Paul Dummett pretty much the only one.

The Mag – 10 September 2019:

Lee Clark is having a bit of a nightmare as manager of Blyth Spartans.

Having taken over this summer, he finds himself rock bottom of the National League North table with only two points from nine matches.

However, it is a very different story for the former midfielder from Kevin Keegan’s 90s entertainers, when it comes to his own son.

Bobby Clark is 14 and has been at Newcastle United’s Academy for some time.

Lee Clark is clearly incredibly proud and that went up a fair few notches, when despite only being 14, Bobby Clark came on as a sub for the NUFC Under 18s in their last match, a 2-1 defeat at West Brom.

Talk about making you feel old.

I was supporting Newcastle long before Lee Clark started playing and then after watching his entire career, it will now be hopefully a case of watching his son excel for Newcastle United.

Lee Clark speaking to Tribal Football:

“My son Bobby got called up to the Newcastle U18 team which is a fantastic achievement considering he’s only 14 years of age.

“He’s doing well and he’s being coached and taught well by the people up there.

“When I was out of work I was able to get the chance to watch him play, because while I was in the management game, it was difficult to watch him.

“It’s a tough environment as there are so many good young players around the country.

“He’s doing well but there’s going to be ups and downs which every young player experiences, just as long as he keeps working hard and listens to his coaches and tries to do the right thing then he might have an opportunity of doing something.

“And if he ever wants to pick my brains he can.

“I’m not sitting there telling him what to do, that’s what his coaches are there for, that’s why they have the amount of staff in these academies now. I’ll be here as his father-figure if he needs any kind of information or help.

“It’s all about the hard work, he’s worked hard to get where he is and it’s harder work to get to where he wants to be so let’s see what the future brings.”

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