Mitchell Clark

[fightoffyour]

15 minutes ago, sne said:

Disappointed he's not been recalled.

Guess that's it for him at Villa then.

I wouldn’t have thought it’s unheard of for a young player to sign a new contract with their parent club while still out on loan for the remainder of their current contract? If they’ve got a good thing going but they’re still not about to break into our team (rightly or wrongly) then why stop that 5 months early just to sign a piece of paper?

[Guest av1]

27 minutes ago, fightoffyour said:

I wouldn’t have thought it’s unheard of for a young player to sign a new contract with their parent club while still out on loan for the remainder of their current contract? If they’ve got a good thing going but they’re still not about to break into our team (rightly or wrongly) then why stop that 5 months early just to sign a piece of paper?

There are a couple of reasons I suspect Clark will be leaving. 

i) Surely Smith would want a closer look at him unless a decision has already been made. 

ii) If the decision was positive and Smith rated him I wouldn't see the logic in not recalling him given that fullback is probably our weakest area. 

[fightoffyour]

31 minutes ago, av1 said:

There are a couple of reasons I suspect Clark will be leaving. 

i) Surely Smith would want a closer look at him unless a decision has already been made. 

ii) If the decision was positive and Smith rated him I wouldn't see the logic in not recalling him given that fullback is probably our weakest area. 

I do take point ii) about Clark specifically, which is why I kept my post in general terms (though this is his thread)

[rodders0223]

Played 90 tonight as Vale kept a clean sheet away from home. Played over 30 games already this season and still young enough to kick on further. Cannot understand the logic if he isn't getting a new deal.

[GENTLEMAN]

I wonder if we don't manage to get a LB in, can we recall?

[Zatman]

Wouldnt we still be entitled to compensation if he leaves in the summer if we offered him a deal

[sir_gary_cahill]

10 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Wouldnt we still be entitled to compensation if he leaves in the summer if we offered him a deal

I think we would be, yes

[sir_gary_cahill]

1 hour ago, rodders0223 said:

Played 90 tonight as Vale kept a clean sheet away from home. Played over 30 games already this season and still young enough to kick on further. Cannot understand the logic if he isn't getting a new deal.

He’s at an age where he needs regular football, he probably won’t get it here. He is a great defender, make no mistake about that but we very rarely get it wrong. If they’re not good enough for us, we let them go. His reading of the game is excellent as is his natural ability but I think and I’m saying this from afar but I think he could have an attitude problem, that’s the only reason we’d let him go, nothing to do with talent

[sir_gary_cahill]

1 hour ago, GENTLEMAN said:

I wonder if we don't manage to get a LB in, can we recall?

I think we could yes but he’s not a left back, he’s naturally a centre back who can fill in in either full back position, a natural defender, he’s a throwback 

[sne]

No idea if this is reliable at all but anyhow:

Quote

Talented Defender Could Be Next Young Prospect to Be Released from Villa

Aston Villa seem to have a habit of releasing once highly rated youth prospects – and generally this works out for the club. However, there are a number of examples where players that they have released have either come back to haunt them, or even proven that they can perform within the same, or a higher league.

Talented wing-back Mitchell Clark is out of contract in the summer, in fact, his contract runs out in under sixty days. With other youth prospects like Callum O’Hare already receiving contract extensions – it looks like the youngster who had impressed former manager Steve Bruce enough to earn an extension until 2019, hasn’t impressed current boss Dean Smith or the clubs scouts.

Clark has spent the entire season on loan at League 2 outfit Port Vale, amassing over 3,300 minutes of football across a long season that has seen the Staffordshire outfit dangle precariously close to relegation to non-league football.

The defender, who recently turned twenty, has started 39 of the 46 games on offer at that level, and appeared once as a substitute. His manager at Port Vale described him as a talent that “looks like he’s already played 200 games”.

His parent club Aston Villa are set for a huge overhaul with the squad regardless of the league that they find themselves in next season, and decisions about out of contract players are not at the forefront of the agenda as the side prepare for the Play-Off semi-finals which start next weekend.

Of course, there’s plenty of time for a new contract to be offered, but Port Vale are said to be incredibly interested in Clark’s signature – and there’s rumours flying around social media that the Welsh youth international has already been told that his contract will not be renewed.

Clark is an option on both wing-back flanks, and has played at left-back and at times centre-back for Aston Villa during pre-season friendlies. For Port Vale, he’s played on both sides of the back four. With Neil Taylor currently enjoying the best form of his Aston Villa career and right-back Frederic Guilbert joining from Ligue 1 side Caen in the summer, perhaps the coaches at Villa are considering what’s best for Clark – and that may just be that he won’t get a chance at Villa Park.

 

https://underagaslitlamp.com/2019/05/03/talented-defender-could-be-next-young-prospect-to-be-released-from-villa/

Bit of a waste if true considering we are extremely light on defenders atm going into next season, surely he can't be asking for an unreasonable contract?

Edited May 3, 2019 by sne

[rodders0223]

It's all very strange that one. If you're 19/20 and playing that amount of games in the football league then you must have something about you. He might make it, he might not, but surely worth a year or two wage to find out?

 

[Farlz]

Quote

Aston Villa have released rookie defender Mitchell Clark.

The 20-year-old leaves after more than a decade on Villa’s books and his agent is tipping him for ‘bigger and better things’.

Clark has enjoyed a hugely successful loan spell with League Two side Port Vale and has played 45 times under two separate managers.

Prior to linking up with the Valiants Clark had made just one senior appearance for Villa - playing the full 90 minutes in the 4-1 Carabao Cup win over Wigan Athletic last season - despite impressing in two pre-seasons under Steve Bruce.

“He needs to be challenged and I challenge him on a daily basis,” says Clark’s agent Lee Marsh.

“He's been at Villa since he was six and is grateful for the opportunity. I couldn't believe he hadn't got a squad number after playing pre-season games.

“I took him to Port Vale and he's done very well in an ugly standard of football. I'm adamant that I'm going to try and get him the career I think he deserves.”

Clark has risen through Villa’s academy alongside the likes of Callum O’Hare - whose contract has recently been extended - and Jake Doyle-Hayes but he’ll become a free agent on July 1.

Marsh added: “Obviously it's a shock to his system that he's unattached but it's for a reason.

“Dean (Smith) didn't see him playing for a club in the top six of the Championship at this time and I respect his views.

“I believe that I can take him on to bigger and better things than what he's doing at Port Vale.

“At this moment in time I've got a big interest from a Premier League club and two German clubs. He won't be signing for them if it's under-23 based, I can tell you that.

“There's Championship clubs and that would be appealing as well because it's a stepping stone.

“I understand why Dean has let him go but I'm sure there'll be staff at Villa who won't be too pleased about it. You've got to move on in life sometimes and this is his opportunity.”

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-mitch-clark-contract-16207330

[midian]

Was told in December his time was probably up at Villa shame Smith didnt give him a chance but was told in December he wasn’t up to the 1st team 

[DCJonah]

We over rate so many of our youth team. I'm still waiting for that nextgen winning team to conquer europe in the first team. 

No problem with Smith getting rid of players he doesn't think is good enough 

[bannedfromHandV]

Sounds to me like he may have a Representative for Wellingborough for an agent.

Wonder if that's been the issue ultimately.

[sir_gary_cahill]

He’ll have a good career, I think the natural ability is there but there may be something lacking mentally, that’s an observation from afar, could be completely wrong

[NIVillan]

49 minutes ago, sir_gary_cahill said:

He’ll have a good career, I think the natural ability is there but there may be something lacking mentally, that’s an observation from afar, could be completely wrong

First time I think you have described one of our academy products as less than World Class

[sir_gary_cahill]

6 minutes ago, NIVillan said:

First time I think you have described one of our academy products as less than World Class

I’ve mellowed with age

[eddiemunster]

Regardless of the thoughts on why the club isn't going to keep him, he seems a level headed young lad, and he certainly comes across as a decent one at that in his twitter post where he confirms his departure.

I'd like to wish him all the best in the future.

[Rob182]

2 hours ago, DCJonah said:

We over rate so many of our youth team. I'm still waiting for that nextgen winning team to conquer europe in the first team. 

No problem with Smith getting rid of players he doesn't think is good enough 

Conquering Europe Exaggeration aside, there were a few half-decent players in the nextgen team. I suppose the best we can ever hope for from any academy team is to keep 1 or 2 and sell 3 or 4.

Callum Robinson is a good quality Championship striker that we probably could have sold for £3-4m if we'd kept him and loaned him to Preston instead of being released on a free. Daniel Crowley was a great prospect but ruined his own career by going to Arsenal for a lifetime on their U23 subs bench, although he's now doing half-decent in Holland. A number of others are probably now League 1/ League 2 quality, which we could have sold for a million combined. Then of course there is Jack 'The Brummie Messi' Grealish, who has basically inspired our whole promotion push this year.

That's not too bad for one crop of youngsters, when you think about it 

Regarding Clark, I would have liked us to hold on to him to see if a League One or Championship team fancied him on loan, but I'll trust in Deano's judgement. He's no worse of a loss than that chap from Barnet that Bruce bought for a million.