Simon Grayson tips Leeds and Leicester to join Southampton in race for Sunderland’s Jack Clarke | OneFootball

Simon Grayson has managed many EFL sides, including the likes of Blackpool, Preston North End, Leeds United, and Sunderland, and thinks two of his former clubs will be in for the Black Cats' star man, Jack Clarke, in the summer.

It was with the Whites that Grayson began his playing career, as he came through their academy in 1988, but would play only a handful of game with his boyhood club before securing a switch to Leicester City, where he spent much of his playing career.

As a manager, Grayson has enjoyed success with plenty of clubs, albeit not with Sunderland. He was raised in the North East, and would only oversee 18 competitive outings in charge of his local side, winning on just three occasions before losing his job; but it was there that he became well-known to fans outside of the EFL.

The toxic environment on Wearside at the time was well-documented in Netflix's 'Sunderland 'Til I Die' series, which encapsulated plenty of the drama and poor choices behind the scenes of the club's disastrous 2017/18 second tier campaign.

However, their fortunes have turned around in recent seasons, securing promotion back to the Championship, and securing a play-off spot last year as well. The key player to their rapid rise has been Jack Clarke, who scored nine goals and claimed a further 12 assists in Championship and play-off matches last season.

Plenty of moving parts make a good promotion team, but Clarke has been a key cog in Sunderland flying up the table so rapidly and taken huge strides forward in his personal development in the process, which has continued this term as well, only fuelling further speculation regarding his future.

During the summer, Sunderland rejected a bid of £10 million from newly promoted Burnley for the winger. In January, they managed to keep hold of Clarke but turned down a second bid from Italian outfit Lazio, according to the Sunderland Echo. The Rome-based club submitted at least two offers for the winger, after seeing a first proposal worth €16 million (£13.1 million) rejected.

His 15 goals and four assists are sure to have caught the eye even further ahead of the summer. According to Football Insider, the Black Cats believe it will be extremely difficult to hold onto the 23-year-old beyond the current campaign.

The Sunderland star is attracting interest from several top-flight clubs, including West Ham and Brentford, whilst fellow promotion chasers Southampton have most recently been linked.

Football Insider are one of several publications that claim Southampton are keen on striking a deal for Sunderland's star, although that would depend on whether the Saints are successful in their ambitions of bouncing back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.

Simon Grayson's Jack Clarke verdict

Grayson expects his former clubs Leeds and Leicester to be in the mix, should they be promoted at Southampton's expense.

Speaking via Instant Casinos, he said: “Look, I think Jack Clarke has had an unbelievable season at Sunderland this year with the goals and the assists and performances that he’s had.

“I think he’ll take stock of the situation come the summer and see where he is, where Sunderland are as well, because they’re the club that he’s contracted to and they’ll have the biggest influence on it.

“You’re led to believe he was linked with Lazio in Serie A, so no disrespect to Southampton, but if they stay in the Championship, I wouldn’t expect him to go from Sunderland to Southampton. “If Southampton or the likes of Leeds or Leicester get promoted, that would be an option. I think other Premier League clubs will be looking at him. A step across the Championship isn’t right, he maybe fancies going abroad in some of the top divisions as well.

“Keep performing to the level that he has been, then he could be open to many, many more offers.”

The Premier League beckons for Jack Clarke

It's fair to say at this point that Clarke will be playing top-flight football next season, be that with Sunderland or a different promoted side from the Championship.

Most bottom-half Premier League clubs will be casting an eye over developments with Clarke over the next four months, but he is fairly inarguably, one of the second tier's best players, let alone wingers.

There could be a bidding war, though. Leeds and Leicester have the likes of Crysencio Summerville and Stephy Mavididi as their left-sided forwards at the moment, meaning a move would require a reshuffling of their attacking options, most likely.