Michael Beale: Sunderland under no pressure to sell 'super-happy' Jack Clarke
Michael Beale says Sunderland are under absolutely no pressure at all to sell players in January, and any bids for top stars like Jack Clarke will not be welcome.
Clarke is having a brilliant campaign for the Black Cats, already bagging 12 goals and generally looking a cut above almost every other player in the Championship.
That has seen him linked with Premier League clubs including West Ham, who are understood to have a very serious interest in the winger.
However, Beale says that while Premier League clubs do have the financial power to wreak havoc on the season of any Championship club, Sunderland don’t want to receive any bids for Clarke – and the same goes for other coveted stars like Dan Neil, Dan Ballard and Pierre Ekwah, all of whom have Premier League admirers.
"If you're doing what he's doing week-in, week-out at the top end of the Championship there's going to be people speaking well of you and there's going to be speculation," Beale said of Clarke. "I want that for our players.
"That means that we're doing well as a club and the players are doing well and thriving in our environment. I've not heard of any enquiries coming directly into the club.
"I'd be lying if I said I'd welcome them because we want Jack here playing for a strong Sunderland team, certainly to see out what this team is trying to do this season. Jack seems super-focused.
"I've been really impressed with him since I came in in terms of his work ethic and quality. I think the speculation is always going to be there when you're scoring the amount of goals he is.
"We're under no pressure to sell any players. In all these things, there are a lot of different angles.
"At the moment, Jack is super-happy, he is focused, his training level is high. If certain bids come in for your players as a Championship club, they are not welcome but they get to a number and the Premier League numbers can cause chaos to your season in a month like January.
"But I don't envisage anything coming our way and I know that the commitment that the owners have to this season and to the project. When I was coming in to the club there weren't any concerns on that."
One possible scenario that could destabilise things would be if Jack Clarke himself was agitating for a move.
At times, it has certainly felt like his agent Ian Harte is, especially when he took to Twitter last summer to complain about Sunderland knocking back bids from Burnley. Harte quickly deleted the tweet.
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However, Beale says there have been no signs at all that Jack Clarke is unhappy at Sunderland. Quite the opposite, in fact. He says Clarke looks like he clearly loves it at Sunderland and is ‘super-motivated’ to lead a promotion charge.
"Jack has found a home here at Sunderland that has been very good for him and he is thriving,” Beale said.
"What I see is a boy who is really comfortable in the changing room, really comfortable with the role he has in the team. It's been quite seamless with me coming in, he has maintained his form, there's not much changed for him.
"I would say that Jack is in a really good place. Jack has seen quite a lot in football - he came through at a young age at Leeds, he had a big move to Tottenham and at that time Tottenham had a few changes of manager and Jack had a few loans, and then he landed here at Sunderland and it felt like a really good match.
"You don't know what tomorrow is going to bring but at this moment in time I am looking at a boy that looks hugely motivated and is enjoying his football, he's probably having the best season of his career numbers-wise and with 20 games to go the story of this season is yet to be written. I think Jack wants to play a big part in that."
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