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Sunderlandecho 6mos ago
Sunderland boss questions Jack Clarke transfer assumption and makes club stance clear
Source:Sunderlandecho

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Mike Dodds has insisted that Saturday may not necessarily be Jack Clarke's last game for Sunderland, warning any interested parties that it will take a huge fee to sign the winger this summer.

Clarke is widely expect to depart in the transfer window with contract talks this season not leading to a breakthrough, with sporting director opening the door to a sale as a result earlier this year. The interim head coach says the winger still has a lot to improve on and added that the club demonstrated last summer that they will not entertain any lowball bids for the 23-year-old.

"I'll be really intrigued in terms of the Jack situation because he still has a long period on his contract. I know there was a lot of interest last summer, which the club didn't feel was anywhere near their valuation, so it will be a really interesting summer. I'm not going to get drawn into Jack and the summer and what the football club wants or Jack wants. But I don't feel it is as completely foregone if that makes sense in terms of Jack is going to 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. Jack would be a positive of the recruitment model. He came in on loan initially and took a while to settle but at the back end of the League One season he was very good. Then we got to the summer and Jack didn't come in immediately. He joined us halfway through the trip to Portugal. It wasn't like he came in straight away, but he's gone from strength to strength.

"He's got huge potential," he added.

Clarke's current contract runs for another two seasons, with his agent Ian Harte confirming recently that there had been no breakthrough in talks regarding a new deal.