Sunderland may sign a League One replacement for Jack Clarke, much like Coventry did:

With Jack Clarke looking likely to leave the club in the summer, Sunderland will be on the hunt for a replacement for the winger as they look to save their season.

The club are currently tenth in the Championship table, but have fallen seven points behind Hull City in sixth place following back-to-back defeats against Huddersfield Town and Birmingham Coty.

Having sacked two different managers already this season, the Black Cats look in disarray, and any hope of promotion to the Premier League seems to be diminishing.

Whilst anything can happen in the Championship, it looks like the Wearside outfit will need to regroup and focus on strengthening the club in the summer, although that will be hard with one of their best players likely to leave.

Jack Clarke looks likely to leave Sunderland in the summer

After having his best season so far in club football, Jack Clarke has attracted interest from a number of clubs from England and in Europe.

West Ham and Lazio were linked with a £20 million move for the forward in January, although no transfer materialised for the former Tottenham Hotspur attacker.

Clarke has impressed in a Sunderland side that has seen much upheaval this season.

With key players like Ross Stewart and Amad Diallo leaving the club in the summer, the burden for goals has fallen on the winger’s shoulders, and he has taken his new responsibility in his stride.

And with 15 goals scored and four assists notched in the league, Clarke has taken on his new starring role very well indeed, but there is only so much he can do to help Sunderland’s play-off aspirations by himself.

After his agent Ian Harte claimed recently that he hopes Clarke is sold in the summer, it looks more and more likely that this will be the final year he spends at the Stadium of Light.

The club have even reportedly resigned themselves to losing him in the summer, despite the forward having two years left on his contract.

Replacing his goals will be a huge ask, especially with the club also searching for a new manager for the summer onwards after sacking Mick Beale after just 12 matches in charge.

However, Sunderland could target a League One star that they have been previously linked with in recent months to come in for Clarke with the money that is made.

Sunderland should target Peterborough’s Kwame Poku as Jack Clarke replacement

Sunderland were linked with a move for Peterborough United winger Kwame Poku late last year, along with other Championship clubs, – including Ipswich Town.

And given the 22-year-old’s form so far this season in League One, Sunderland may need to move quickly in the summer in order to beat out any other interest in the one-cap Ghana international.

Poku has impressed for Darren Ferguson’s Posh side this season, with his eight goals and seven assists helping the club be part of a promotion chase in League One – despite a run of bad form in recent weeks seeing them drop down places in the table.

However, that run has coincided with injuries that have forced Poku to miss multiple games, showing just how important he has been to the team.

Excelling both in scoring goals and creatively, Poku could be an ideal replacement for Clarke at Sunderland.

Both have similar expected goals per 90 minutes, similar shots per game and similar expected assists, although Clarke routinely outscores his expected goals while Poku is very close to his.

Clarke does dribble more with the ball, completing 3.75 successful dribbles per 90 minutes compared to 1.52 for Poku, although that could be put down to the freedom given to Clarke compared to his potential replacement.

The one glaring issue is that Poku plays mainly on the right to cut inside on his left foot, while Clarke does same but on the opposite side of the pitch off the left.

This means that the Peterborough forward will not be a full like-for-like replacement for Clarke, but can bring the same attacking threat as him if brought into the club in the summer.

Sunderland will be following in Coventry City’s footsteps if they make a move for Kwame Poku

It was not long ago that they sold another of their star players in the form of Ephron Mason-Clark, who moved late in the mid-season transfer window to Coventry City.

Mason-Clark commanded a £4.25 million fee from the Sky Blues, which was reduced from £5 million due to the fact that City agreed to loan the forward back to London Road for the remainder of the season in what ended up being a non-negotiable for Posh chief Darragh MacAnthony.

While this was positive for Peterborough at the time, it means that they may have to replace both Mason-Clark and Poku in the summer, which will be a huge ask for any club despite the funds that they will likely generate from the latter as well.

MacAnthony is a shrewd operator in the transfer market though and has been for many years, so you wouldn’t bet against the Irishman finding cheap replacements that he could sell on for millions in the future.

It puts them in a similar position that Sunderland were in last season, losing Diallo and Stewart in similar circumstances.

These moves helped Clarke break out and become the player he is today, so it could encourage the rest of the squad to step up and impress if Sunderland buy Poku as a replacement for Clarke in the summer.

They would almost certainly be following in Coventry’s footsteps though, and that is not necessarily a bad thing as Mark Robins’ side get more right than wrong in recent years

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