Sunderland’s star man Jack Clarke leads the Championship in one stat so far this season.
Clarke is enjoying another standout season with Sunderland.
He started in blistering and prolific form, scoring a handful of goals early on and surpassing his tally for the last campaign already.
The 23-year-old is now on 10 goals in 22 Championship appearances this season. He’s scored just the one goal in his last eight games though amid what’s been a bit of a tough run of form for both him and Sunderland.
The Black Cats have just appointed Michael Beale as their new manager and after a period of uncertainty following Tony Mowbray‘s exit, Sunderland and Clarke too can start to kick on again.
But it’s still been an impressive year from the equally impressive Clarke, who leads the Championship for dribbles completed this season.
Jack Clarke blows away the competition for completed dribbles
In just 22 league appearances in 2023/24, Clarke has already completed a staggering 79 dribbles; or 3.59 dribbles per game.
The player with the second-most amount of completed dribbles is Leeds United’s Georginio Rutter who’s completed 53 dribbles in 21 games, or 2.52 dribbles per game.
That, on top of his 10 goals and one assist, has made for a hugely impressive campaign from Clarke who will no doubt attract suitors once again in the January transfer window next month.
And it’s also a testament to his game; he’s very positive player who is always looking to take the ball forward and beat his man, and get his side into scoring position.
Earlier in the season, Mowbray described Clarke as a ‘phenomenal’ player.
Can Michael Beale get Clarke and Sunderland firing again?
Beale inherits a good squad and a squad that’s recently picked up big wins over the likes of Leeds United and West Brom.
Sunderland are still in 7th place of the table as well, so Beale doesn’t need to come in and make huge changes, but rather do some finetuning so that Sunderland can really start to realise their potential.
And it remains a squad with plenty of potential to fulfil.
Clarke at the start of the season was showcasing what he can do, asserting himself as one of the best players in the Championship, but he’s since had a drop in form.
It may be that opposition teams are starting figure him out and so Beale could look for new ways to deploy Clarke and get him back on the scoresheet more regularly.
But the above stat shows that Clarke’s main skill is going past players with the ball.
Beale will surely recognise that and utilise it when he goes into his first game as Sunderland boss this weekend, taking on Coventry City at the Stadium of Light.