Well, that was short-lived. Dane Scarlett, striker and promising Tottenham Hotspur youth product has been recalled by the club after a disappointing stint with Ipswich Town:
Dane Scarlett will be returning to the Club having been recalled from his loan at Ipswich Town
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 27, 2023
A loan to the Championship was an exciting prospect for Scarlett, a player who many of those affiliated with Tottenham have labelled as one to watch in the future. There was further reason to be excited about the temporary switch, as the Ipswich Town leadership seemed very keen on him, with manager Kieran McKenna describing Scarlett as “a very exciting young forward who the staff and I have known about for a long time,” and an “explosive finisher with both feet and someone who has good movement in the final third.”
Hearing those words, you would have expected some decent playing time; but McKenna’s waxing lyrical turned out to be not much more than empty platitudes, as Scarlett only saw the pitch in 12 of 22 possible matches, all off the bench, and the majority of those with 15 minutes or less shunted out on the left wing.
Whether it’s this lack of playing time, or some other reason for Scarlett’s recall (Dustin mentioned some of the potential reasons for the recall in his piece a few days back), the club has decided the young striker’s future is not best served by sitting on the bench at Ipswich Town. As it is, regardless of the reason for the recall Scarlett needs minutes at this point in his development, minutes he wasn’t getting at Ipswich Town. It’s quite possible he’ll go out on loan again in January, but hey – maybe Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg heads away somewhere and Tottenham Hotspur retain Scarlett to hit their Dane quota? Who knows!