Clarke summer exit not a certainty, insists Mike
Mike Dodds has insisted that Saturday may not necessarily have been Jack Clarke's last game for Sunderland, warning any interested parties that it will take a huge fee to sign the winger this summer.
Clarke is widely expect to depart in the transfer window, with contract talks this season not yet leading to a breakthrough, and with sporting director Kristjaan Speakman opening the door to a sale as a result earlier this year.
Interim head coach Dodds says the winger still has a lot to improve on, and added that the club demonstrated last summer that they will not entertain any lowball bids for the 23-year-old.
"The Jack situation, I don't really read the stuff online so I don't know what the narrative is," Dodds said.
"I'll be really intrigued in terms of the Jack situation because he still has a long period on his contract.
"I know there was a lot of interest last summer, which the club didn't feel was anywhere near their valuation, so it will be a really interesting summer.
"I'm not going to get drawn into Jack and the summer and what the football club wants or Jack wants. But I don't feel it is a completely foregone (conclusion), if that makes sense, in terms of Jack is going to leave the football club.
"He has a length on his contract and the club have demonstrated they won't be letting anyone go for cheap, so there will be some toing and fro-ing if clubs are interested.
"Jack would be a positive of the recruitment model. He came in on loan (from Tottenham Hotspur) initially and took a while to settle but at the back end of the League One season he was very good.
"Then we got to the summer and Jack didn't come in immediately. He joined us halfway through the trip to Portugal. It wasn't like he came in straight away, but he's gone from strength to strength.
"He's got huge potential. He's still a young man, there's still a lot that he needs to work on and there's still a huge amount of his game he needs to be better at.
"If we're talking about him moving on and going to the Premier League, that's not just one step, it's five steps.
"We're talking about the best league in the world, so there's still a huge amount he needs to improve and get better at. But he's a good kid. He's a unique character, he moans about absolutely everything but you can live with the moaning if he produces the numbers he's produced.
"It will be an interesting summer, my personal opinion is I just don't think the conclusion is Jack is going to leave the football club, because he's got a lengthy contract and the club have demonstrated they're not going to let players go for anything less than what they think is value. It's going to be an interesting summer."
Clarke's current contract runs for another two seasons, with his agent Ian Harte confirming recently that there had been no breakthrough in talks regarding a new deal.