'We'll see' - Sunderland boss refuses to rule out Jack Clarke Ipswich switch

Jack Clarke is wanted by Premier League newcomers Ipswich, and Regis Le Bris says he's unsure if Sunderland can keep the winger.

Sunderland facing fight to keep Jack Clarke / IMAGO / NurPhoto

Regis Le Bris expects Jack Clarke to be available for Sunderland against Burnley, although he admits that could change at a moment’s notice.

Clarke is a major target for Ipswich Town, who are attempting to sign the winger in a £20million deal, and the expectation at the moment is that a deal will be reached before the transfer deadline.

Le Bris is not concerning himself with that for now, though, and he says that as long as Clarke is at Sunderland, it will be business as usual.

"Jack trained this morning, which is my main concern,” Le Bris said ahead of the visit of Burnley this weekend.

“So he is able to play this weekend at the moment. Many of our players are targeted by the other teams because the transfer window is like this when you have talented players in the squad.

“These are the rules of the transfer window, we need to be confident and it is good news to have these players in our squad. Sometimes, they can leave, this is the rule of our job. We will see.

“He's been working with Doddsy on his previous game, working on his clips and what he can improve. For me he is still with us. If he wasn't, he wouldn't be working with Doddsy to improve himself. We are professional, this market is unstable, something could happen in one direction or the other. We'll see.”

Sunderland have many players coveted by other clubs, with Anthony Patterson, Pierre Ekwah, Dan Ballard and Trai Hume all being the subject of transfer speculation this summer as well as Clarke.

For Le Bris, though, that should be seen as a major positive rather than an irritant. He does, though, concede that if Clarke leaves then Sunderland will find it tough to replace him in the transfer market.

“If you watch our team, many many players could be targeted because they are very talented but they are still here.

“Maybe one of them will leave, that's a possibility, and we are working on many profiles. We know it's a difficult market, especially the strikers and wingers, because they are so rare on the market but we have many options.

“I think that our job is really evolving with years. Now the players know that many things can happen and they are very stable in their mindset. Here today [they think]: ‘I am a player of Sunderland playing for Sunderland and if something changes I change but at the moment I'm 100% for Sunderland,’ and that's the case with Jack.”