Like the insinuation that there's a nepotistic leader in the team (5)
I believe the answer is:
snide
'like the insinuation that' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'nepotistic leader in the team' is the wordplay.
'leader' indicates taking the first letters.
'in the' indicates putting letters inside.
'team' becomes 'side' (both can mean a sports team).
The initial letter of 'nepotistic' is 'n'.
'n' inserted inside 'side' is 'SNIDE'.
'there's a' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for snide that I've seen before include "Sneering, supercilious" , "Delivering cuts" , "Mean, base" , "Derogatory, sneering" , "Maliciously mocking" .)