Jack Clarke has had a tremendous season with Sunderland this year, placing him among the finest in the world.
Jack Clarke had a very poor season in League One after joining Sunderland on loan in 2022. He scored just one goal and was not selected for the starting lineup for the play-off final.
He didn’t truly take off until he earned a permanent contract and moved up to the Championship, scoring nine goals and dishing out twelve assists.
With just 31 games played, the winger has already scored 14 goals and provided four assists, demonstrating his continued improvement.
Clarke This Season
Clarke has easily established himself as one of the league’s top attackers in the second tier. He leads the league in dribble success (112), with a massive 27 more than Georginio Rutter, who is in second place.
With 73 critical passes, he is only six behind Gabriel Sara at the top of the standings. He also has the sixth-most key passes in the Championship.
Although Clarke has shown a lot of promise this season, one statistic has already elevated him to the status of one of the world’s top football players.
Clarke already has the single season record for carries into the penalty area in a league season (via fbref) #SAFC pic.twitter.com/WGcnUyT8wB
— Andy (@SAFCsource) February 11, 2024
Clarke now holds the record for most carries into the penalty area in a single league season (147), which is an impressive seven more than Real Madrid player Vinicius Junior, As reported by SAFCsource. The record was previously held by Viktor Gyokeres in his last season at Coventry City (143).
Vinicius Jr. defeated Clarke in the 2021–22 season (148) and the 2022–23 season (181), placing him in third place overall. However, it should be noted that the Brazilian player played in about 20 more games in both campaigns.
Vinicius Jr netted a total of ten goals and provided nine assists in La Liga last term – two less than Clarke’s goal contributions. Perhaps Real Madrid will be eyeing him up in the summer now.
The 23-year-old is simply too good for the Championship and we are going to have to perform a miracle to replace him with anyone half as good.