Sunderland face having to pay Tottenham Hotspur a huge fee if Jack Clarke leaves the club.
Tottenham paid a whopping £10 million to sign Jack Clarke from Leeds United back in 2019.
The forward only managed two appearances in the Europa League before he was sent out on four different loan spells, with the final one coming on Wearside.
Despite an underwhelming stint in League One, Sunderland opted to sign Clarke on a permanent deal following their promotion in 2022. According to football.london, the Black Cats only had to cough up £750,000 plus add-ons to snap up the youngster.
It seems like a brilliant deal for Sunderland, with Clarke going onto score 21 goals and provide 14 assists in 73 games in the Championship since.
Clarke’s brilliant form has attracted plenty of interest, with the likes of Burnley, Crystal Palace and West Ham circling during the January transfer window.
Sunderland are eager to keep hold of the 23-year-old, but it is believed that they could be tempted to sell if they receive an offer of over £20 million.
While it seems like a huge sum for the Black Cats to take, they certainly wouldn’t see all of it.
It had been reported last year that Tottenham had inserted a sell-on clause into the deal that saw him move north, but it wasn’t clear how much it was. However, football.london have now claimed they will be owned a huge 25 per cent of Clarke’s transfer fee.
That means that if they were to sell Clarke for £25m, they would have to pay Spurs £6.25m.
Does this change things for Sunderland?
Most fans don’t want to see Jack Clarke leave anyway, but knowing that we would have to pay Tottenham such a significant amount of money makes his potential departure even more frustrating.
I’m not daft enough to believe that Clarke will stay on Wearside beyond the summer, but Tottenham’s sell-on clause just means that we need to rinse the buyer for as much money as possible.
It was a very smart move for Spurs, who could well make back most of the cash that they gifted to Leeds United five years ago.
Clarke could become one of Sunderland’s record departures if and when he leaves the club though.
Jordan Pickford currently takes top spot after joining Everton for an initial £25m in 2017, while Darren Bent left to join Aston Villa for £24m six years prior.