Dane Scarlett recalled by Spurs | OneFootball

It has been officially confirmed by all parties, that Tottenham Hotspur striker Dane Scarlett has been recalled by the club from his loan at Championship side Oxford United, as a result of a lack of game time.

20-year old Tottenham Hotspur striker recalled from loan

In reality, the striker was never first choice at the U's, though there were times he was getting more game time than in other spells. However, under recently appointed manager Gary Rowett, he was not even getting appearances off the bench, finding himself an unused sub three times in the last six games.

Talk of a recall had been mooted as far back as last month. The writing was on the wall when Rowett brought in striker Tom Bradshaw, whom he worked with at Millwall for over three years. At the weekend, Bradshaw came off the bench, whilst Scarlett was an unused sub. For a team that play with one up front, the situation was clearly beyond repair.

Overall, the striker played 805 Championship minutes - playing 20 games, starting seven times, and scoring four goals, at a rate of a goal every 201 minutes. Not bad numbers, though should be caveated by the small sample size.

It will be interesting to see where he goes on loan next. Will it be another Championship side - or a League One move to get more regular game time? The latter feels like the better idea. There is also the option to go abroad like Alfie Devine has gone in the Belgian Pro League. That feels like it would be a good experience for him.

Things have generally not worked out well for Scarlett during his loans so far, so it feels like it will be a long way back if the next one doesn't go well. There is still plenty of time, but considering he was getting minutes in the Europa League knockout stages four years ago, his development has not gone as planned so far.

Some have mentioned a loan to Leyton Orient, where he would link up with current Spurs loanees Josh Keeley and Jamie Donley, as well as former academy player Dilan Markanday. However, the rules state that clubs can not loan more than two players from the same club. Even if they could, we have already seen Keeley and Donley fall victim to Orient having too many loanees for their match day squad in the past, so it would perhaps be a suboptimal move regardless.