Is £15m a fair fee for Sunderland's talisman Jack Clarke?

Ian Bendelow says...

Let’s face it, £15m shouldn’t even get you the arse print in Jack Clarke’s sofa.

You can cut it many ways but it’s a bad deal in terms of remuneration, which should be far higher. The timing is awful - eight days remain of this window, and prices are at a premium (except here). The mood of the fans come Saturday will be questionable, as if we need that. Then there’s Jack himself, could have got a far better move than a parochial almost club who’ll be coming striaght back to the Championship. He hasn’t agitated for a move, there was no pressure to sell.

Who the f*ck thought this was a good idea? I’m imagining the meeting between KLD and Speakman to be a bit like the recent clusterbollocks on X between Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Except where Trump was musing over whether the melting of the glaciers would help create more oceanfront property, KLD probably wondered whether £12m is enough to buy a Cessna with leather bloody seats. The answer - no, it’s at least £20m, with add ons.

The truth is the board must be on a different planet to the rest of us if they think this is a good deal. Let’s hope it’s Mars, the red mist planet. Because they’re going to have to get used to more of that in the very near future. Oh no wait, the fume has already begun.

Let the melt. See the down.

Derek Carter says...

Players come and go so it’s not the first time as fans we’ve been faced with this situation, and let’s face it — Ian Harte has been a man on a mission, and finally got what he wanted. I hope for Jack’s sake that he knows what he’s doing because the chances are he’ll be spending a single season in the top flight and be back to square one next summer.

Now for what it’s worth I don’t believe the £15m price that’s being quoted and I’m more inclined to go off other reports that would suggest it’s £20m plus add ons, which would seem more sensible.

It’s disappointing news for sure, especially as I think his link-up with Dennis Cirkin would blossom this season, but we’ll find out on Saturday how we fare without him.

It won’t be easy but let’s see what the plans are before we start polishing up the pitchforks.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

Tom Albrighton says...

I think overall it’s a joke of a deal from the club.

Since the departure of Summerville from Leeds, Clarke was left as the premier winger in the division.

With the extortionate fees currently doing the rounds, accepting £15m is almost offensive. When you consider that Ipswich have also paid £20m for Hutchinson this window (who had a less impressive season than Clarke last season) it makes you wonder what on earth the club are thinking selling so low.

Not only this it now sets a dangerous precedent - potentially putting a host of players in the shop window for knockdown fees. Clubs will now be on alert and happy to test the waters knowing that paltry fees may well just bag them some of our best players.

Whatever their reasons for accepting such a low offer, they better be good.

Ewan Bowman says...

It's a terrible bit of business from the club. £15 million (plus £5 million) for a player who has regularly scored and assisted in the last two Championship seasons in today's market is a low price.

Also, Spurs getting 25% of the deal makes the offer being accepted even more baffling.

He is going to be a big loss to the side and I wish him well. I just wish the club showed a bit of backbone and held out for much more money.

Photo by Nigel French/PA Images via Getty Images

Phil West says...

That’s the end of that, then.

It might’ve been projected and inevitable after his exploits of recent seasons and the magnetic pull of the Premier League to exciting talents from the division below, but as we seemingly bid farewell to the most exciting Sunderland player in his position in over twenty years, it’s hard not to feel the sting of Jack Clarke’s Stadium of Light exit, as well as bitterness at the way the whole thing has unfolded.

Our loss is undoubtedly Ipswich Town’s gain, and after two promotions in two seasons, achieved with a core of primarily League One-level players, it’ll be interesting to see if Kieran McKenna can help mould Clarke into a genuine top-tier attacker, given his previous stint at Spurs didn’t work out as he would’ve wanted.

The rumoured fee, if it’s accurate, is nothing short of an insult, and it’s hard not to feel a sense of deflation as a football fan first and foremost as Clarke prepares for his second tilt at top flight football, and Sunderland are forced to regroup and adapt to life without the brilliant- and I really do mean brilliant- winger.

Don’t let anyone attempt to rewrite history in order to claim that Clarke, who arrived on Wearside as a raw, skinny and somewhat undisciplined attacker, has been anything other than dazzling in the red and white stripes in recent times, or that his numbers in recent seasons were artificially inflated by spot kick success.

His first six months on Wearside were very much a learning curve as his undeniable attacking instincts were slowly streamlined into something more efficient, but the talent was always there and it just needed to be channeled in the right way.

His initial loan spell was turned into a permanent move after promotion was secured, and upon our return to the Championship, as Alex Neil was replaced by Tony Mowbray, Clarke began to flourish, with his quicksilver feet, eye for goal, and ability to keep defenders on edge proving key as Sunderland became a byword for swashbuckling, no-fear football.

His goal against Reading, for example, was ‘Moggaball’ in excelsis: swift, incisive, crisp football, with the finish to match, and he was just as capable of moments of individual magic as he was of finishing off superb team moves.

The Clarke- Amad-Roberts attacking triumvirate was capable of thrilling crowds both at home and away with its potency, and although we ultimately fell short in our playoff quest, Clarke continued to deliver, proving to be a shining light in a 2023/2024 season of turmoil, rancour, and unrest, and had it not been for his contributions, God only knows how the season would’ve finished.

So, how to sum up Clarke’s brief but impactful spell in red and white?

An unmitigated success, to say the least, and it’s hard to escape the feeling that his departure will have a hugely detrimental impact on our prospects for this season. You don’t replace Clarke; you simply habe to hope that someone else steps up, and I’m struggling to see that right now.

Detractors may claim ‘Ah, but look at how he struggled in the Newcastle FA Cup tie! Kieran Trippier pocketed him’, but really, who cares?

Judging any Sunderland player bar Alex Pritchard on that abomination of a day is a bit like judging Mike Tyson on his horrific 2002 bout with Lennox Lewis. It’s a very small part of a much bigger picture, and Clarke has more than carried his share of the load in recent times, establishing himself as a true red and white hero and one of the most exciting players to pass this way in many a long year.

I loved Clarke and I’m gutted that he’s gone, and seemingly for such a pittance, too.

I hope to God the Sunderland hierarchy have some aces to procure from their sleeve within the next few days. They’re going to need them, without a doubt, because the nature of this deal makes me feel like we’ve been robbed blind.