Given the managerial change at Tottenham Hotspur halfway through the 2019-20 season, the forthcoming pre-season will be a critical opportunity for plenty of the club’s players to impress Jose Mourinho.
This cannot be understated for Spurs youngster Jack Clarke, who returns to North London for his first real opportunity to impress the Premier League club’s hierarchy.
The prodigious talent was signed in the Mauricio Pochettino era, joining Tottenham from Leeds United last summer after impressing at Elland Road.
However, after being loaned back to the Whites and spending time with QPR, Mourinho will have the chance to assess the 19-year-old winger in forthcoming weeks.
With established international widemen such as Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura and Steven Bergwijn at Tottenham, Clarke will have to make a big impression to stand a chance of featuring next season.
In all likelihood another loan spell elsewhere would be a better solution, ideally at a Premier League club, but the England under-21 man has a golden opportunity before that to show Mourinho that he is good enough to have a future at Spurs.
The Tottenham boss gave Japhet Tanganga and Oliver Skipp a chance to play at times last season – while Clarke may not be in the first-team fold in 2020-21, he can sow the seeds for a future at Spurs over the next month.