'Pray to God' - Sunderland man offers advice to defenders trying to stop Jack Clarke

New Sunderland signing Leo Hjelde has played with and against Jack Clarke since arriving on Wearside - and he's just happy stopping him is someone else's problem.

Leo Hjelde says he would be ‘praying to god’ for help if he was tasked with playing against Sunderland winger Jack Clarke.

Hjelde made his Sunderland debut at Middlesbrough playing alongside Clarke down the lefthand side of the pitch.

Clarke was the standout player on the pitch again, creating a goal for Nazariy Rusyn and laying on a huge chance for Abdoullah Ba.

'Huge asset for Sunderland' - Michael Beale expecting big things from youngster

Hjelde only arrived at Sunderland late last month, but he has now played with Clarke as well as against him in training – and he says he’s just thankful he doesn’t have to worry about how to stop him during a game.

“I’ve trained against Jack now, and if I was playing against him in a game, I think it would be a case of praying to God really,” Hjelde said.

“He’s brilliant. It’s great to know you’ve got a player like that, where you can give him the ball in tight positions and he will do some magic with it.

“It made my job easy really – I could stay back and do my job at left-back, knowing that Jack was there in front of me doing his stuff.”

---

READ MORE SUNDERLAND NEWS

• Sunderland contract situation: Who is nearing the end of their current deal?
• Top Ten: Sunderland's best ever January signings
• Real Madrid star Jude Bellingham names two former Sunderland players as his heroes
• Jordan Willis and seven other Sunderland careers ruined by injury
• Sell to thrive, not sell to survive: The Sunderland 'model' explained - in their own words
• Luke O'Nien and eight other Sunderland players who successfully changed positions