Striker who has lots of admirers
WE haven’t reached the end of the domestic season yet but attention has already turned to the summer transfer window.
Both Swansea City and Cardiff City are eying a striker to boost their goalscoring ranks for next term.
Swansea are obviously fully focused on the play-offs and the possibility of a return to Premier League football, whereas the Bluebirds are already gearing up for another campaign in the Championship.
The past few days has seen both clubs, along with Scottish champions Rangers, top-flight sides and teams on the Continent, linked with League One scoring sensation Jonson Clarkeharris, who has bagged 31 goals so far this season.
His strikes have propelled Peterborough into the second tier for next term, with Posh co-owner Darragh Macanthony declaring him “the best goalscorer in England”.
He added that any club wanting to sign the 26-year-old would have to shell out a lot of cash. “He’s been fantastic, the best player in League One, the best goalscorer in England and if we can keep him, brilliant, because he’ll be worth double by January in the Championship,” said Macanthony.
“I can’t wait to see £20m in transfer sales instead of seven and eights.
“As a club that’s what we need, we want to build, we’re in good shape and we’re under no pressure to sell.”
We spoke to Jonny Bonell, a journalist at our sister title football.london and a Posh fan, about just how good Clarke-harris is...
1. What sort of player is he?
Perhaps before the last two seasons, you would be thinking Clarke-harris was more in the mould of a target man, a centre-forward who could hold his own and bring in team-mates around him.
But since 2019, not only is the above still valid, he also has enhanced that by becoming an out-and-out goalscorer.
A look at the stats show his early years weren’t prolific, although a lack of regular minutes and finding a settled home in a team could be an explanation.
Clarke-harris has 94 career goals and 60 of those have come since he joined Bristol Rovers in January 2019. He can score all types of goals: headers, free-kicks, poacher finishes, powerful strikes from outside the box ... he really seems to have it all.
2. Do you think he is Championship level? How good is he?
Clarke-harris arguably proved earlier in his career that he could cut it in the Championship while at Rotherham United, scoring three goals in 15 appearances in 2014-15 and then a further six, with two assists, the following campaign.
There were a number of loan spells in and around his time with Rotherham, but it perhaps came as a surprise when he dropped to League Two when returning to Coventry City on loan. He helped fire the Sky Blues to promotion via the play-offs and then signed a permanent deal, before joining Bristol Rovers in January 2019.
Twenty-four goals in 38 League One starts was enough to persuade Peterborough to part with more than £1million to get their man in the summer.
Coming in to replace the surely Premier League-bound Ivan Toney was no mean feat at London Road, but Clarke-harris has far and away exceeded expectations, leading the line and playing every League One fixture for Posh, scoring 31 goals in the process.
That’s not the kind of return to be sniffed at. The 26-year-old seems to be improving year on year and heading into the prime years of his career.
There is no reason he won’t make a success out of another spell in the second tier.
3. Do you think Posh will be able to keep hold of him this summer?
Without promotion, I would have said more than likely not.
It’s not been easy to keep strikers at London Road in recent seasons and you can’t necessarily blame them. The club’s record in unearthing the next goalscoring gem and selling them at an enormous profit is simply unrivalled.
But while that is good for a season or two, the likes of Dwight Gayle, Britt Assombalonga and Toney (to name just a few) all had higher aspirations than League One football, which is fair enough.
Clarke-harris can now be the main man at Peterborough – if he isn’t already – and not only help them up to the Championship, but keep them there and build for seasons to come.
Will another Championship team be able to offer him the regular gametime Posh have and will continue to do?
Time will tell... but the grass isn’t always greener, as they say.