Monday, October 15, 2018

Jake Clarke-Salter: ‘I was with players I played with on PlayStation. Crazy’

Football | The Guardian
Jake Clarke-Salter: ‘I was with players I played with on PlayStation. Crazy’

Chelsea’s defender, on loan at Vitesse Arnhem, draws comfort from Sergio Ramos after three red cards in his fledging career

As the referee reached for his back pocket less than half an hour into Vitesse Arnhem’s Europa League qualifier against Basel in August, it was easy to imagine what was going through Jake Clarke-Salter’s mind. The Chelsea defender’s previous loan, at Sunderland last season, was overshadowed by back-to-back dismissals and now another red card – and a harsh one, too – was about to be shown in his direction. Holding his head in his hands, Clarke-Salter had only one thought: “Not again.”

Pulling up a chair at St George’s Park ahead of England’s Under-21 game against Scotland on Tuesday, Clarke-Salter talks about “a massive learning curve” as he reflects on those red cards and his loan experiences, starting two years ago at Bristol Rovers, where he ended up having a metal plate inserted in an arm after a painful fracture-dislocation of his elbow.

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