Sunderland winger Jack Clarke has sent a message to his Tottenham Hotspur critics during an outstanding season in the Championship, according to his agent.
While Dejan Kulusevski, Richarlison and even the usually-irrepressible Heung Min-Son endured seasons to forget at the Premier League giants, you cannot say the same of a man who failed to make even a single top-flight appearance during three years as a Tottenham Hotspur player.
Jack Clarke was, arguably more so than anyone else, a victim of the near-endless uncertainty at Spurs. A player who joined under Mauricio Pochettino in July 2019 suddenly finding himself under a coach in Jose Mourinho who has never really had any time for developing youngsters.
Then came Antonio Conte; another coach who cares little about the long-term and focuses all his attention on immediate success.
So Clarke, very much a ‘project player’, was not exactly handed the conditions in which to succeed in North London. Like trying to grow a Chelsea Flower Show-winning garden in an atmosphere devoid of oxygen and sunlight.
Clarke’s form since joining Sunderland, however, should serve as a reminder as to why Tottenham paid £10 million for an 18-year-old on the back of just 25 senior appearances under Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds United.
Jack Clarke thriving at Sunderland after failing at Tottenham Hotspur
“I’m just delighted he’s gone out and had the season he’s had,” Clarke’s agent, the former Elland Road favourite Ian Harte, tells i News.
“Because a lot of Tottenham fans criticised him. (They) said they should never have signed him. But he’s proven he’s got the ability to be involved.
“He’s had 11 goals and 13 assists (this season). Stats don’t lie. And How it’s about building on that.”
Playing regular first-team football for the first time since the 2018/19 season; the silky winger was a major reason why Sunderland came within 180 minutes of successive promotions under Tony Mowbray. Only Luton Town’s iron-clad backline kept Clarke and Amad Diallo quiet during the play-off semi-finals.
Clarke is reportedly a £15 million target for the likes of Everton, Crystal Palace and Burnley this summer. But, as Harte himself is at pains to point out, the England u20 international is unlikely to be in a rush to leave again.
He knows from experience, after all, that the grass is not always greener elsewhere.
The irony is, of course, that if Ange Postecoglou had become Spurs’ head coach sooner, Jack Clarke could still have had a big part to play in the English capital…
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