Manager confirms club are holding ‘conversations with Tottenham’ over striker
Ipswich Town boss Kieran McKenna has admitted that Tottenham are currently in talks with the Championship side over recalling Dane Scarlett in January.
Many Spurs supporters view Scarlett as a first-team prospect in the future; in August, Ange Postecoglou said he was impressed with the striker’s performance in the training area (Football.London).
The 19-year-old, who has started all 12 of his Championship games this season as a substitute, did not fare well with the decision to move him on loan to Ipswich in order to gain game time.
The Tractor Boys, who are presently second in the table, have significantly outperformed expectations this season, which is the major reason the England Under-21 international has found it difficult to get a look-in.
Scarlett could be heading back to Tottenham
Now that Scarlett has been contacted by Spurs, McKenna has acknowledged that the North London team is probably going to call up the player.
Regarding the striker’s future, he spoke with BBC Radio Suffolk (via the East Anglian Daily Times): “Talks are now being held with Tottenham. I believe there is a good chance he will be called back.
“Tottenham is currently dealing with injury concerns, and their star forward, Son Heung-min, will be playing in the Asian Cup at the beginning of January.”
“There have been talks over the past few days, and it’s possible that he will be called back from the beginning of January.”
Scarlett might not have been able to start, but McKenna maintained the Tottenham player would have gained a lot of knowledge from his time at Portman Road Stadium.
“He’s a really talented player, we enjoyed having him here,” the 37-year-old continued. He was always going to be playing catch-up because he arrived very late in the window following an interrupted pre-season in which he did not play any minutes.
“He hasn’t had as many starts as he would have liked because the players who have been playing have been performing so, so brilliantly. However, he has made twelve appearances at the highest level of the Championship.
He’s made several valuable contributions to our team. We anticipate great things from him in the future. I believe he leaves the club a stronger player and with a lot of lessons learned from the atmosphere and his time there.
I doubt Tottenham’s decision to recall Scarlett was influenced in the slightest by Son’s trip to the Asian Cup. I think this is due to the young player’s difficulties getting playing time, and I fully anticipate that Spurs would loan the 19-year-old to a team lower on the Championship table for the second half of the season.
