Tony Mowbray believes that the sky is the limit for former Tottenham winger Jack Clarke, who has made an exceptional start to the season at Sunderland.
Clarke was seen as one of the most promising young talents in the EFL when Tottenham shelled out £10m to sign him from Leeds United in 2019.
The winger never managed to fulfil his potential during the three years he spent in North London and he also underwhelmed during his loan spells at Stoke City and Queens Park Rangers.
However, the 22-year-old has thrived since sealing a permanent move to Sunderland last year, and he is currently leading the goalscoring charts in the Championship this season, having found the back of the net nine times in 14 matches so far.
It was reported by TEAMtalk a couple of weeks ago that the Black Cats star is attracting interest from the likes of Crystal Palace, Brighton, and Burnley, with the outlet asserting that Spurs have a 50 per cent sell-on clause for the player.
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Did Spurs make a mistake by selling Jack Clarke?
Mowbray has now spoken about Clarke’s time at Tottenham, suggesting that the fact Spurs paid a sizeable fee for him is evidence that the youngster was always extremely talented.
The Sunderland boss told ITV’s English Football League Highlights show “Jack is a wonderful character. A unique personality. A young boy who left Leeds for £10 million to go to Spurs. For whatever reason, it didn’t work out at Tottenham.
“(But) you don’t get sold for £10 million without having the talent. The talent was always there. For me, to try and unlock the mystery of Jack Clarke was to show him some love really, and tell him how important he is.”
Mowbray does not expect the goals to dry up for the former Tottenham man anytime soon.
He told The Mirror: “How many (goals) can he get this season? If we can play really positive like we are now and have attacking moments, then Jack is devastating.”
“He has a huge aerobic capacity to keep running. He can run fast all day. A huge attribute for any footballer. He will keep scoring and hurting teams and mixing his game up. I hope he is enjoying his football, and the club can do everything they can to keep him here for a successful season.”
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Clarke did not show anything during his time at Spurs (including in his loan spells at Stoke and QPR) to suggest that he is good enough to be a Premier League player.
However, he has seemingly matured as a player since his move to the North East and is now a lot more confident, and the 22-year-old is showing just why Tottenham decided to take a punt on him.
If the winger continues developing the way he has over the last 18 months, I wonder if Spurs might be tempted to re-sign him, particularly given the fact they would only have to pay half price owing to the reported sell-on clause.
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