Mike Dodds on Jack Clarke’s Sunderland future & transfer doubts.

Sunderland manager Mike Dodds has made it clear that Jack Clarke will not be leaving the club this summer. He has also cautioned interested parties that the Black Cats would not lower their valuation of the star player.

Clubs have tried and failed to sign Clarke in the last two seasons, and offers appear to be on the way this summer following a highly impressive season for the former Leeds and Tottenham winger, who was named Sunderland’s Player and Players’ Player of the Year this week.

Clarke is entering the final two years of his contract at the Stadium of Light, so although this puts Sunderland in a strong position, it also means there are likely only two windows left before the Black Cats risk losing the 23-year-old for less than they would want.

With that in mind, Clarke’s departure this summer has seemed quite likely since the January window – but Dodds believes that is not the case.

“The Jack situation, I don’t really read the stuff online so I don’t know what the narrative is,” he told me.

“I will be quite interested in the Jack scenario because he still has a long contract. I know there was a lot of interest last summer, but the club didn’t think it was anything near their valuation, so it’ll be an intriguing summer. I’m not going to get involved with Jack, the summer, or what the football club or Jack want. But I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that Jack will leave the football club.

“He has a length on his contract and the club have demonstrated they won’t be letting anyone go for cheap, so there will be some to-ing and fro-ing if clubs are interested.”

Clarke had a fantastic start to the Championship season, scoring nine goals by the end of October. He’s since added six more, and despite an ankle injury that delayed his season, he remains one of the Championship’s most sought-after players. Dodds is a big supporter of the winger, but believes he needs to improve significantly before returning to the Premier League.

Dodds stated that Jack would be a beneficial aspect of the recruitment process. He came in on loan at first and took some time to adjust, but by the end of the League One season, he was excellent.

“Then we arrived to the summer, and Jack didn’t come right away. He joined us midway during our vacation to Portugal. He didn’t come in right away, but he’s steadily improved.

“He’s got enormous potential. He’s still a young man, and he still has a lot to work on, as well as a large portion of his game that he needs to improve. If we’re talking about him moving on to the Premier League, that’s a five-step process. We’re talking about the top league in the world, so he still has a lot of room for improvement.

“But he’s a good kid.” He’s a one-of-a-kind character who moans about everything, but you can put up with it as long as he delivers the numbers he does.

“It will be an intriguing summer; in my opinion, I don’t think Jack will leave the football club since he has a long contract and the club has proved that they would not allow players go for anything less than what they believe is fair. “It’ll be an interesting summer.”