da casino： When Leeds United sold Jack Clarke to Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2019 for a fee of £10m, the Elland Road outfit looked to have sealed a brilliant deal.
Why did Tottenham sign Clarke from Leeds?
da marjack bet： The teenage winger had broken into Leeds' first team under Marcelo Bielsa and contributed two goals and two assists in 22 Championship appearances in the 2018/19 campaign.
Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs felt that they could take a gamble on Clarke's potential and paid £10m to bring him to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but he was never able to break into the first team in north London, making just four senior appearances in total.
He returned to Elland Road on loan for the 2019/20 season but saw his game time extremely limited under Bielsa in the first half of the campaign, managing just 19 minutes of Championship action, which saw him recalled and sent to QPR.
However, he would also struggle for regular minutes with the Hoops and managed just six substitute appearances, which will have left Leeds delighted that they had received such a significant fee for a player who had barely made a name for himself in the Championship.
Another underwhelming loan spell at Stoke City would follow, and when Sunderland came calling ahead of the 2021/22 campaign, it seemed that Leeds' decision to sell Clarke was a good one, as it appeared as if he would never be good enough to feature in the Premier League.
How is Jack Clarke performing now at Sunderland?
Despite managing just one goal and three assists in 20 appearances for the Black Cats as they won promotion back to the Championship, he was signed on a permanent deal last summer to end his Spurs nightmare.
That decision has certainly paid off for the north-east side, as he has been one of the most consistent players in the Championship so far this term, and at 22, the prospect of him playing in the Premier League is suddenly not an unrealistic one.
In 39 appearances for the Stadium of Light outfit, Clarke has contributed an impressive eight goals and eight assists, earning an impressive 7.05 rating from WhoScored, which sees him rated as the second-best player in Sunderland's squad.
The English winger added to that tally with a phenomenal performance in the 4-4 draw against Hull City on Good Friday, with his display in front of the Sky Sports cameras perhaps likely to attract interest from those in the top flight.
Clarke would contribute a goal and two assists in the exhilarating draw, while he would also win the penalty for Sunderland's third, so had a hand in nearly everything positive the home side did.
Unsurprisingly, his performance saw him earn plenty of praise from journalists on Twitter, with Josh Bunting writing:
"Jack Clarke, Amad Diallo and Patrick Roberts outstanding there. Feel for all three of them, they deserved to be on the winning side.
"Clarke unplayable and that’s the games I love – with him just driving at the opposition defence, he’s a handful with his balance. Attack excellent."
Sunderland Echo journalist James Copley added: "I make that eight goals and eight assists for Jack Clarke (I think) in the Championship this season – plus two strikes in the FA Cup, too. Takes his contribution to 18 this campaign. The kid is mustard."
Considering no player in Leeds' squad has more than 12 goal contributions – albeit in the Premier League – so far this term, Leeds may soon come to regret selling Clarke so early in his career.
If he continues to dominate in the Championship, it is surely a matter of time until his market value shoots up and a top-flight side comes calling for the 22-year-old winger.