Sunderland have turned down an improved £10m bid from Burnley for winger Jack Clarke, according to a report. Journalist Alan Nixon of the Sun on Sunday is reporting that the Clarets have made a second attempt to prise the 22-year-old away from the Black Cats, having failed with a £7m bid earlier this month.
Vincent Kompany's side won promotion from the Championship last season and are looking for reinforcements ahead of their Premier League campaign. And Clarke's stellar season with Sunderland as the Wearsiders reached the play-offs in their first season back in the second tier after winning promotion from League One has not gone unnoticed.
Clarke, who joined Sunderland from Spurs on a permanent basis last summer after spending the second half of the previous season on loan with the Black Cats, scored nine league goals and contributed 11 assists. It is no surprise that Clarke has attracted interest, although Burnley are so far the only club to have made a firm offer.
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But Sunderland have no intention of allowing him to leave on the cheap. Burnley's initial bid fell way below the Black Cats' valuation and, while the reported £10m now on the table - which would be paid in instalments - is an improvement, Sunderland will point to the fact that Clarke moved from Leeds to Spurs for a fee in excess of £10m at just 18 years of age when he had only made 25 appearances.
Since then, he has gone on to win international honours at U20 level with England, and become a Championship regular with Sunderland, playing in all-but one league game last season. With Clarke under contract until 2026, Sunderland are under no pressure to sell, and the fact that the deal which brought him to the North East is believed to include a substantial sell-on clause which would see part of any fee go to Spurs would also have to be taken into account in any valuation.
