Jack Clarke is proving his ‘wonderful talent’ after leaving Premier League giants Tottenham Hotspur for a fresh start at Championship high-flyers Sunderland, Black Cats boss Tony Mowbray tells the Echo.
If you squinted a little, you’d have been forgiven for assuming this was Barcelona circa 2009; Xavi into Andres Iniesta, Iniesta into Lionel Messi, Messi into David Villa.
You’d be hard pushed to find a better team goal at any level this season; Clarke putting the finishing touches on a flowing, back-to-front move in Sunderland’s 3-0 thumping of Reading recently, slathering a layer of icing on top of a mouth-watering cake with a sublime touch and finish.
In fact, the one-time Leeds United starlet has scored more goals this season already (three) than he managed in each of the last three campaigns combined. This, coupled with four assists, is proof of the new-found ruthless streak that threatens to turn Clarke into a bonafide game-changing talent at Championship level, if he isn’t there already.
Jack Clarke has a new lease of life after Tottenham Hotspur exit
“I played my best football after 30,” explains Mowbray, the former Middlesbrough boss who recently replaced Alex Neil at the Stadium of Light. “Because I knew my body, understood the game and speed of it, where I needed to put people,”
“Young players; it’s more off the cuff and Jack falls into that category. What a wonderful talent he is.
“The first half at Reading, for example, he frustrated me a bit. He couldn’t get on the ball as much as he’d have liked. He doesn’t really have those double movements yet; to run away and come back to buy some space, to come short and then spin away when the defender comes tight. These are all the things he has to work on.
“What nobody can deny is the talent he has when the ball is at his feet; how fast his feet are and how wonderful a talent he is.
“He’s a joy to work with because he’s a wonderfully happy-go-lucky kid. There’s times I’d like him to be a bit more serious but that’s because he really is a diamond of a lad, we all love him.”
One of the Championship’s best?
Clarke did not make a single Premier League appearance for Tottenham before joining Sunderland following an impressive loan spell on Wearside. He could eventually cost the Black Cats around £10 million, should he trigger the bonuses in his contract.
And Mowbray admits that he could have signed one of the EFL’s most exciting raw talents during his time in the Ewood Park dugout too.
“Jack was proposed to us a lot at Blackburn Rovers for a loan,” Mowbray adds. “We never took it up, because I’d seen him play against us for the U23s and he hardly had a kick. I just felt he’d lost his way. (But) you’re obviously a talent if you move for the kind of fee he did.
“It’s just about finding the answers and giving him that confidence, showing him that love. Never push him to the back of the queue because he can win you football matches.”
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