With interest from West Ham and Lazio in the summer, Jack Clarke’s future at Sunderland is now unknown due to recent remarks made by Ian Harte.
Jack Clarke’s efforts have been a major factor in Sunderland’s fight for promotion, and the team is still in the running for a berth in the top six at the end of the season.
After bad run of form that kept them out of the play-off spots, the Black Cats are now 10th in the Championship.
They want to surpass their previous season’s performance, in which they finished sixth in the league and lost to Luton Town in the play-off semifinals. But recent remarks made by the player’s agent, cast doubt on Clarke’s future, and this might become a major problem in the second half of the Championship season as the weeks go by and outcomes become even more crucial.
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Jack Clarke’s agents comments put doubt over player’s future
Ian Harte, Clarke’s agent, recently discussed the former Tottenham Hotspur player’s future with the team. He clarified on the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast that, in light of January’s interest from Premier League and Serie A teams, he hopes Sunderland would sell Clarke in the summer.
“There were a couple of bids that came in from Lazio. Sunderland didn’t feel like they wanted to sell the player in the January window. The player has just obviously got to focus on what he’s doing at the moment, which is fantastically well, scoring goals, getting assists.
“But hopefully this summer we’ll probably see Jack moving. Where it may be, we don’t know just yet, but he’s in a good place.
“Last summer Burnley came in and bid to Sunderland to try and take Jack. Sunderland didn’t feel the valuation was high enough and they turned it down.
“It’s flattering when big Italian teams are coming in and looking at a player like Jack, but the bread and butter is you’ve got to go out and do it week and week out at Sunderland and hopefully he’ll continue to do that.”
This paints a much different picture to Harte’s comments from the summer, where he noted Clarke’s love for the club and long-term contract when discussing his future at Sunderland.
At this point, speculation over Clarke’s transfer is not what Sunderland needs
Harte’s remarks do not come at the best time for Sunderland. Behind-the-scenes drama could have an impact on their chances of getting promoted at the end of the season, given the intense competition currently raging for top six.
With 34 games played thus far this season, Clarke has 14 goals and 4 assists, ranking among the division’s top scorers. He has contributed to 42% of the Black Cats’ league goals thus far, demonstrating his importance to the group. Losing him would put an end to any hopes the team had of qualifying for the Premier League.
In January, he was linked to a £20 million move to both West Ham United and Lazio; in light of his agent’s remarks this week, such talks may resume.
The team hasn’t performed as well as anticipated when Michael Beale was named manager in December. Under the former Rangers manager, the team has only garnered 14 points from 11 games, with just four victories. He is now doing worse than his predecessor Tony Mowbray did prior to his dismissal, with just 1.27 points-per-game ratio.
As they continue to fall short of the play-off spots, many have been clamoring for Beale’s resignation due to the recent string of bad performances. They are now four points behind Coventry City in sixth place in the Championship after their latest loss to Birmingham City dropped them to 10th.
The Black Cats can only suffer as a result of rumors over the future of their top player, given the low level of faith in the manager and the poor performance.
As it becomes apparent that Clarke is pushing for a move away, talk of him leaving might demoralize the team and put the Black Cats in a worse position to negotiate in the summer.
It seems certain the former Spurs man will leave in the summer, and Sunderland will hope that he can fire them into the top six before he goes, before commanding a big transfer fee from a Premier League club.
However, the comments by Harte about Clarke’s future at Sunderland will do nothing to improve this situation, and is not what the club would have wanted this week.