Tony Mowbray makes admission on Sunderland star's reaction after failing to secure exit | OneFootball

Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray has revealed that Jack Clarke hasn't been sulking following his failure to secure a move to the Premier League during the summer transfer window, speaking to the Northern Echo.

The Black Cats would have known that they were going to face a battle to keep Clarke considering how influential he was last term, with the ex-Tottenham Hotspur man only joining permanently last summer but registering a magnificent 11 goals and 14 assists in 50 competitive appearances last term.

He may only be 22 at this point, another factor that has probably allowed him to generate quite a bit of interest, but he had to kickstart his career at the Stadium of Light following an unsuccessful time with Spurs.

This is something he managed to do and the 22-year-old may have been keen to make the move back up to the top flight in the summer to play against his former team and prove why they should have utilised him more.

It was Burnley who seemingly took the most interest in him during the previous window, with Vincent Kompany's side having the license to fork out the millions needed to secure his signature after securing promotion back to the top tier at the first time of asking.

They may already have had the likes of Anass Zaroury and Manuel Benson at their disposal, as well as others, but Nathan Tella left the club and this left a big attacking void that needed to be filled.

The Clarets seemed to identify him as a candidate to come in and replace the current Bayer Leverkusen player - and made several bids in their quest to get a deal over the line.

One of these offers was believed to be in excess of £10m but with the player still having plenty of time left on his contract at the Stadium of Light, they were able to take a very tough stance on him at the negotiating table.

Although it was reported that the winger was unhappy about the fact a bid in excess of £10m was rejected, Mowbray has commended the player's professionalism.

The Black Cats' boss said: "He is getting in goalscoring areas now, he is understanding that he has to score as well as create.

"He has got his confidence. There were big bids in for him in the summer, the club decided, in my opinion, that they weren’t right, so here he is.

"He is not sulking, he is not upset that he didn’t go to the Premier League because the club didn’t think the fee was right."

Is Jack Clarke taking the right approach?

By not throwing his toys out of the pram, he has been able to focus on matters on the pitch.

And he has certainly benefitted from that, scoring three goals in six league appearances.

That isn't a bad record at all and considering how inexperienced the squad is, the Black Cats may continue to be reliant on him to come up with the goods.