Clarke-Salter only played 11 times for Sunderland during the Mackems’ doomed 2017/18 season.
Jake Clarke-Salter’s Sunderland loan spell didn’t go exactly to plan.
The Chelsea-owned centre-back was shown more red cards (two) than he won matches (one in 11 attempts) as a Sunderland player and failed to keep the Mackems in the Championship.
But it was at least a period that benefitted him, as he explained in a recent interview with The Independent.
“I learned the most at Sunderland,” said the 21-year-old, who is currently on loan to Birmingham City. “I feel I went as a boy and now I’m a man. I got that mental toughness. The team were struggling and, at the time, it’s not the greatest, but the game is full of ups and downs no matter what type of player you are. I’ve experienced injuries, red cards, and learnt from my mistakes.”
A year in the Dutch top-flight with Vitesse Arnhem proceeded Clarke-Salter’s Sunderland experience.
And the south Londoner insisted that “going there (Vitesse) is what made me be able to captain England (Under-21s).”
Clarke-Salter was linked with a string of clubs before his move to Birmingham.
But his only Blues appearance to date arrived in a 3-0 EFL Cup defeat at the hands of Sunderland’s League One rivals, Portsmouth.
He is due to spend the rest of this season at St Andrew’s before returning to Chelsea, where he’ll have another two years left on his contract.
Sunderland fans – what did you make of the defender’s Stadium of Light spell?
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