When news of Lazio’s interest in Jack Clarke surfaced in the final few days of the January transfer window there might have been cause for a little unrest at the Stadium of Light.
Sunderland had found themselves back in the win column against Stoke City, inspired by another impressive Clarke performance with the winger contributing his third assist of the season, his 16th goal contribution in total. After what had been a difficult period for head coach Michael Beale, Clarke had delivered one of his strongest displays at the Stadium of Light this season and put a frustrating blank against Hull City on his milestone 100th appearance firmly behind him.
In the aftermath of that win over Stoke, Clarke became the subject of surprise interest from Serie A giants Lazio heading into the final days of the transfer window. Clarke’s star has risen dramatically over the course of the last 12-months with Sunderland, with the 23-year-old coming of age and taking on the mantle of being Sunderland’s star man in the absence of the likes of Ross Stewart and Amad Diallo.
His form has warmed the interest of almost half of the teams in the Premier League with the likes of Burnley, Sheffield United, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Brentford, Everton and West Ham United all credited with an interest at varying points over the course of the last six months, whilst Championship runaway leaders Leicester City and promotion challengers Southampton have also seen their names thrown into the mix. In short, Clarke is a man in demand.
But interest from abroad came as a surprise, both in the ambiguity of Lazio’s approach followed by their accelerated offers for the winger in the subsequent days. The Italians resume their Champions League campaign this week with the visit of Bayern Munich in the round of 16. Whilst the first leg of that tie is playing out in Rome, Clarke is likely to be in full swing for Sunderland at the John Smith’s Stadium against Huddersfield Town in West Yorkshire – the lure of such a move is not hard to imagine.
The Italian side are five points adrift of the Champions League places in Serie A in what is threatening to become something of an ordinary campaign for manager Maurizio Sarri – although the former Chelsea boss is not understood to be in danger of losing his job just yet, the club’s CEO Claudio Lotito recently confirmed.
Part of Sarri’s plan to relieve some of that pressure, however, was to add to his wide forward area to complement the likes of Felipe Anderson, Pedro and Ciro Immobile who, it’s fair to say, are into the second half of their careers at 30, 36 and 33-years-old respectively. In that sense, you can see the appeal of the likes of Clarke (23) and Plymouth Argyle’s Morgan Whittaker (23) who they would later turn their attentions to and Norwich City’s Jonathan Rowe (20).
Lazio saw their initial approach for Clarke firmly rebuffed by Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman who admitted there remains no need for Sunderland to sell their so-called better players at any stage – including Clarke.
“If you were able to keep our group and keep moving it forward, you could argue that you don't need to sell a player and you can then go and get promoted,” said Speakman. “I think we're very close to that with the group that we've got.
“Ultimately, the club will move at a certain pace and the players will move at a pace. With the players it can be quite quick, a centre-forward for example or a wide player could be at your club, score ten goals and all of a sudden they're in demand and have the opportunity to move much quicker than the club can - because we have to move by seasons and players can move by windows, if that makes sense.
“I don't see any issue with trading being part of being successful, I think everyone is doing that. Ultimately, we'll just try to make the right decision by the club every time those key questions come up.
“Every player has their own journey,” he added. “I don't think there's ever a necessity to sell a player or for a player to move - it's just trying to find the right sweet spot for everybody.
“I don't think it's a situation where Jack would have to move in the summer, but eventually if you don't sign a new contract, it starts to run down and eventually you're a free agent.
“I'm sure Jack doesn't want to go through that two-year period and neither do we, so it's just about discussing a contract, seeing where those parameters are at, and then seeing where the market is at with regards to what opportunities there may be for him to move on at some point.”
Lazio would return with another offer in the final 48-hours of the window, receiving the same riposte which forced the Italian side to move their focus elsewhere with Whittaker, who has made 23 goal contributions this season and Rowe, who has made 14 contributions, only for both Plymouth and Norwich to reject any approaches.
Lazio may well have taken into account the success of young talent from the Premier League across Europe in recent years and looked to get ahead of the game with regards prying the top Championship talent away. It may be something we see more of in the summer from some of Europe’s elite.
But Lazio’s advances for both Clarke and Whittaker made for their head-to-head at the Stadium of Light all the more fascinating; two of the Championship’s very best this season on show.
And both added to their goal contributions in Sunderland’s 3-1 win; Whittaker with a stunning assist for Ryan Hardie to open the scoring before Clarke scored his 14th goal of the campaign in remarkable style to give Sunderland the lead.
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Given the position of both wingers, Clarke on the left of Sunderland’s attack and Whittaker on the right of Plymouth’s, it meant both were occupying the same side of the field so both got an up-close view of one another. But if you were looking at this particular fixture for both to showcase their qualities, it took a little while for either to get going in what was a low-key first half, for the most part.
Clarke was the aggressor of the two picking up the ball and attempting to drive into the area before seeing a number of near post crosses for Nazariy Rusyn turned away. Whittaker was kept fairly quiet by Leo Hjelde on his home debut in the opening exchanges, although, as you can see in each player map via Sofascore stats, it became clear from an early stage how Whittaker was more accustomed to drifting in-field from the wide right area in an attempt to find space between Hjelde at full-back and Luke O’Nien at left centre-back – an area where he managed to direct a header goalwards which deflected wide without troubling Anthony Patterson.
Clarke’s positioning meant he felt like more of a threat on the break, as was so nearly the case when Dan Neil fizzed a brilliant volley with the outside of his foot in behind Bali Mumba, but goalkeeper Conor Hazard was out quick enough to deny Clarke who was otherwise clear on goal.
Whittaker then demonstrated what he is about with a lovely exchange with Mumba in a tight area on the right to advance Plymouth from their own defensive third to Sunderland’s defensive third before then wriggling free soon after to send a delightful cross-field ball into Mickel Miller.
Whittaker was then booked for a pullback on Pierre Ekwah which provided Clarke the opportunity to take centre stage, an opportunity he failed to take as he fired a free kick well off target
Clarke had another go from a similar distance soon after which was blocked before Patrick Roberts was able to recycle possession back the way of Clarke who shifted onto his right foot and brought the games first save from Hazard who could only push wide low to his left before Whittaker then floated a cross-field pass well into touch, which kind of summed up the opening half an hour from both.
But the thing about good players is, even when they are perceived to be having a relative ‘off day’ they still possess the potential to turn things on and that’s exactly what Whittaker did five minutes before the break.
As Sunderland tried to work the ball down the right following a cleared corner through Roberts and O’Nien, Beale’s side heavily advanced in the Plymouth half, Whittaker took up an interesting position in-field, midway inside his own half. Roberts drove along the edge of the area looking to exchange with Abdoullah Ba before an interception diverted the ball the way of Whittaker who had plenty of space away from Hjelde. The key thing to note here is the incredible awareness of Whittaker as you see him look to his right and where Hardie (out of shot) is positioned further up the field.
That quick glance before receiving possession allowed Whittaker, who had positioned himself to take the ball on his favoured left foot, the opportunity to fizz a stunning ball between four Sunderland players; Hjelde, Neil, Ekwah and Trai Hume, into the path of Hardie who ran from inside his own half to stay onside.
Hardie was confronted by Patterson but the striker had great composure in going around the goalkeeper and outfoxing Hume before delicately lifting the ball over both into the back of the net.
It’s not the first time we have seen Whittaker produce a one-touch assist for Hardie as the pair linked up in the 3-3 draw with Watford on New Year's Day. On that occasion Whittaker, again, stepped slightly in from his traditional right-wing position to show for Adam Randell, who had possession of the ball.
Randell played a measured pass into Whittaker who then sweeps a first time pass through the Watford defence for Hardie to run onto and finish well at the near post.
Whittaker’s assist here at the Stadium of Light, however, was of the highest quality and tilted the pendulum in his favour in the head-to-head with Clarke momentarily.
Clarke looked for an immediate response when escaping the challenge of Mumba before drawing a free kick – but his earlier wasted efforts meant he was now replaced on free kick duty by Ekwah who would actually get Sunderland back into the game early in the second half.
The Frenchman’s equaliser shifted the momentum in the game as Sunderland were firmly in the ascendancy, with Clarke growing evermore into the game as a result. The winger twice linked with Neil to advance into the penalty area to send a warning to Plymouth who had scrambled away his attempts at goal before the 23-year-old conjured up a stunning piece of individual brilliance to hand Sunderland the lead.
With Plymouth playing a relatively high line, Hume sent a searching ball from right-to-left for Clarke to chase down into the corner of the field where Mumba stood him up quite well, showing him onto his left side. But Clarke was able to dribble back towards his own goal momentarily, towards the angle of the penalty area, where he was then aided by an intelligent off the ball run by Neil which created a moment of hesitancy from Mumba who shifted his weight onto his right to counteract that run from Neil.
That small step gave Clarke all the incentive he needed to drift in-field away from Mumba and fire towards goal, curling a wonderful effort in off the post beyond the outstretched Hazard to give Sunderland the lead, with Clarke determined not to be overshadowed.
With their tails up, Sunderland added a third through Jobe Bellingham to take the game away from Plymouth as Clarke continued to be a nuisance in the final quarter of the game – unfortunate not to add an assist to his game with two particularly searching crosses for Rusyn at the back post.
Joy Division’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ echoed around the Stadium of Light at full-time as Sunderland supporters adapted the words to serenade their talisman who, despite being relatively under par by his high standards in the first half, was able to come out and prove just how invaluable he is to this Sunderland team once again.
Clarke was rated at 7.5 by in-game data experts WhoScored having attempted five shots and completing 76 per cent of his passes. He attempted five dribbles and was dispossessed just once whilst having 59 touches overall.
In contrast, Whittaker was rated at 6.6 and had no attempts at goal, completing 68 per cent of his 20 passes. Whittaker attempted three dribbles but was dispossessed three times and had 30 touches as well as picking up a yellow card.
Whittaker remains ahead of Clarke in the Championship standings when it comes to goals and assists with 16 and seven to Clarke’s 14 and four as both continue to flourish this season. But where we saw Whittaker assisting superbly against Sunderland and Clarke finishing exquisitely, both have demonstrated the opposite attribute.
Take Whittaker’s goal against Sunderland in November, for example. When Randell is in possession of the ball, Sunderland have a pretty solid shape with Whittaker not likely to be deemed an outright threat wide on the right with as many as three Plymouth players ahead of him in the attack.
But as we see so often from Clarke, Whittaker has the ability to turn nothing into something. As soon as Niall Huggins over commits, Whittaker takes advantage by cutting inside onto his left and with both Neil and Dan Ballard somewhat reluctant to step too far out, Whittaker takes aim and fires in a terrific goal from distance as Sunderland slipped to a 2-0 defeat at Home Park.
But Clarke has shown his class when it comes to assisting as recently as the 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough when teeing up Rusyn for Sunderland’s late equaliser.
Clarke exchanged a brilliant one-two with Neil to spin Luke Ayling and drive into the open space in the Middlesbrough half. Clarke’s threat draws as many as three Middlesbrough players over in an attempt to deal with the danger before a fourth then arrives.
In the meantime, Rusyn has cleverly peeled away from his marker on the right and has found himself in plenty of space with Jobe’s intelligent run through the middle claiming the attention of Rav van den Berg who has to shift over to cover, leaving Rusyn yet more space.
Clarke then curls a delightful ball into the path of Rusyn who fires in from distance as Sunderland claimed a share of the spoils.
Of Whittaker’s 17 goals in all competitions this season, 14 have come with his left foot and three with his right. Of Clarke’s 14 goals, 13 have come with his right foot and one with his head as both continue to highlight how effective the inverted winger can be in the modern game.
Both Clarke and Whittaker have taken their games up another level this season. But when you compare the two, you can see how much Clarke dominates when it comes to his possession of the ball with the winger the Championship’s clear leader in terms of his progressive carries – having already comfortably surpassed last season’s total as can be seen with their player radars courtesy of data experts Fbref/ Sports Reference LLC, below.
Clarke shades things in terms of experience in the Championship having played around 30 games more than the former Derby County and Swansea City man, but Clarke’s clear growth this season compared to last season is there for all to see when it comes to his outright data, as can be seen below.
Clarke had 20 goal contributions last season, with nine goals and 11 assists – that whilst operating alongside the likes of Stewart and Amad, as well as Roberts. This season, with 15 games still to play, he is on 18 contributions, with 14 goals and four assists. Factor in Sunderland’s struggles in terms of an outright striker this season and you wonder how many more assists he may have added to that tally but, either way, he looks set to better last season’s numbers.
It's felt like a real coming of age season for both Clarke and Whittaker. Both have had failed experiences in the Championship before in their young careers – both have almost reinvented themselves at a place they have now been able to call home at Sunderland and Plymouth. Both are amongst the league’s standout performers and both have merited the interest which continues to come their way.
“You see all the things as fans, as followers and journalists, you see all the things Jack does in terms of the final third, but I get a unique insight into him as a boy,” Beale told We Are Sunderland.
“So now I’m working with him; he’s super fit, he really wants to get better, he asks questions, he’s improved offensively since I’ve been here just by taking on some advice. I think in the big, big moments in games he doesn’t go hiding, he steps up for his team-mates and his club which is important.
“He’s very calm in front of goal. I don’t like comparing players to other players I’ve worked with, but I will just say that he’s an impressive young man, not just as a footballer.”
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The rise of both Clarke and Whittaker has been of particular interest to new Plymouth head coach Ian Foster who has been familiar with both players during his time in the England youth set-up as a coach for the under-17s, 18s and 19s in recent years where the nation has enjoyed huge success. Foster was part of the coaching and management staff to oversee a number of major tournament successes with England’s youth age groups having also worked a number of the country’s top young talent who we have since seen progress into Gareth Southgate’s senior squad. And for Foster, it’s about seeing players with potential being handed opportunities by clubs – something he is buoyed by in both Clarke and Whittaker.
“I’ve been working in the pathway with the England team and have been aware of Jack’s qualities,” Foster tells We Are Sunderland. “He’s a wonderfully gifted player and whether it’s with Sunderland or somebody else, he’ll have opportunities at the highest level I’m sure, particularly if he carries on his form in that way.
“We say the same about Morgan. It’s really nice to see two young players who have maybe just had to get restarts on their careers, in the short careers that they’ve had, and find their way and find a home where they can be loved, where they can be trusted and be given an opportunity because there’s a lot of young English talent that isn’t given opportunities they deserve. It’s lovely that both players are getting that and both players are thriving.”
Foster continued: “I don’t mean these two players when I say this, but sometimes it’s an ego thing. Sometimes with young players if they can’t live up to the expectation of perhaps the first parent club they’re at, huge football clubs with big squads who are challenging for trophies, sometimes it’s really, really difficult and you can get lost a little bit in the system.
“Loans aren’t always advantageous. Sometimes you get managers who leave the football club and a new manager comes in who might have different ideas, so it can be very, very challenging for young players. So it’s nice that both seem to have found somewhere where they’re happy because that makes such a difference.
“If you get an opportunity to speak to Morgan about the personal side of it and the football side of it, he’ll tell you how happy he is in terms of where he lives and where he comes to work and doing what he does and I’m sure you see that with Jack and others.
“These players need a platform to perform from. They need to trust of their head coach or manager and they need to be given time because they’ll make mistakes, that’s for certain. But so will your senior ones. You’ve just got to be brave as a coach and put them back in. But it’s lovely that both players are thriving.”
Both Clarke and Whittaker will likely have better, more complete games than we saw here at the Stadium of Light, and yet they both were able to stamp their authority in the game despite that. It’s why so many elite clubs continue to monitor their progression.
At some stage, there is an acceptance that Clarke’s situation will come to a head if the current contractual impasse continues. Understandably, Sunderland do not want to leave themselves in a situation where the winger’s value starts to decrease because the end of his contract is approaching, so there will eventually be a decision to be made if a new deal is not forthcoming.
But at this moment in time, and for the remaining 15 games of the season, Clarke, like Whittaker, is one of the Championship’s finest. And for the time being, he is Sunderland’s.
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