QPR and Stoke City supporters may have been surprised by eight-figure Ipswich Town transfer: View

For Ipswich Town, the summer transfer window of 2024 has been thrilling and eventful.

The Tractors Boys have been hard at work assembling a team they believe can contend in the top division since their promotion from the Championship to the Premier League at the conclusion of the last campaign.

Consequently, they succeeded in augmenting Kieran McKenna’s team with a grand total of twelve before the window shut.

Jack Clarke was among the final people to move into Portman Road this summer.

Ipswich spent big on Jack Clarke

Ipswich confirmed late last month that they had completed the transfer of Clarke from Championship side Sunderland, with less than a week until the window closed.

The East Anglia team reportedly gave the Black Cats an upfront payment of £15 million to recruit the winger.

The 23-year-old signed a five-year contract at Portman Road, and the sum is predicted to increase by a further £5 million based on add-ons.

Since then, Clarke has already made two appearances for Ipswich. He started their Carabao Cup match against AFC Wimbledon and came off the bench on Saturday in the Premier League against Fulham.

However, one could argue that people with ties to Sunderland’s two Championship opponents may have been more than a little surprised to see what was going on.

Jack Clarke struggled for QPR and Stoke City

Nevertheless, there’s no disputing that Clarke’s promotion to the Premier League is justified in light of his Black Cats performances.

During his tenure at the Stadium of Light, the winger shone and developed into one of the Championship’s most potent and versatile attackers.

As QPR and Stoke both know, he had not always had it that way, even in the second division, even if he was instrumental in Sunderland’s 2022–2023 season journey to the play-offs.

Clarke, who developed through Leeds United’s development system, was loaned back to Elland Road for the 2019–20 season after being sold to Tottenham in the summer of 2019.

Even though the winger was a regular for the Whites the season before he was sent to Spurs, he found it difficult to get playing time after going back on loan.

His second stint with Leeds was consequently ended prematurely, which QPR capitalised on during the January transfer window of 2020.

Although many at Loftus Road ultimately failed to see any of it, the winger’s potential at that stage looked to make him an exciting addition for the R’s.

Clarke made just six Championship appearances while at QPR, all of them as substitutes, and he did not have any significant offensive effect.

As a result, after his time with the Hoops ended in the summer of 2020, the winger was

But once more, Clarke would not have much of an impact despite playing in 14 Championship games for the Potters during the season.

He was only included in a league roster six times during that time, and he failed to establish himself as a regular member of the starting lineup. He also failed to score any goals for the team.

An Achilles injury in April 2021 then brought an early end to his loan tenure at the bet365 Stadium.

Clarke’s real breakthrough came in the summer of 2022, following a modest loan stint with the Black Cats. That was the only time he truly displayed his

The winger has since advanced to the point where, according to his own efforts, he is now deserving of a return to the Premier League.

However, considering how he performed there, it’s likely that supporters of QPR and Stoke believed Clarke would never have another opportunity to play for both teams.

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