"Would be perfect" - Gus Poyet lays out ideal Jack Clarke, Sunderland scenario amid Ipswich Town interest | OneFootball

The winger has been in high demand for some time now.

Former Sunderland manager Gus Poyet has predicted that Black Cats star Jack Clarke will leave the club before the end of the summer transfer window.

The electric winger has been the target of many bids and much interest over the past year or more. Lazio tried to sign Clarke in January, but failed in their attempts - they are still said to be interested in him and his fellow young talent of a teammate: Jobe Bellingham.

The most recent team to become involved in the battle for the 23-year-old is newly promoted Ipswich Town. They tried to sign another Championship winger - Jaden Philogene - but that move fell through and they look to have turned their attention to Clarke.

iNews reported that Ipswich were lining up an £18 million bid for him, but Sunderland are said to want £25 million for the player.

There is much debate about the sell-on clause when it comes to the winger, who they bought from Tottenham Hotspur two summers ago. James Copley has stated that he's been told the number is 25%, but he admitted that the figure is widely contested.

Gus Poyet believes that Jack Clarke will leave Sunderland

Despite the apparent difference in valuation between Ipswich and Sunderland, the former Black Cats boss still believes that the winger will leave the Stadium of Light this summer.

He told the Sunderland Echo: "There are a few who could go to the Premier League, different characters. Obviously everyone talks about Clarke leaving, I think he will. It will depend on the price and the money. I did say to one of the owners, perfection would be to sell him and keep him on loan for a year. That would be perfect!

"Everybody was laughing but it has happened before, a club that maybe wants to invest now but doesn't need him for this season. But in the position that Sunderland are in now, you have to expect that when a player does very well - he will eventually leave.

"I think when you go and see Bellingham, his style and his similarities with his brother - if you can have him and get him to play in one specific role and develop him, he has all the potential to become a Premier League player," said Poyet.

"I think there are players who could in the near future leave. I always say to the owners and the sporting directors I work with, that's something you have to respect if you want to do well. If you do well, players will leave.

"There are two things that are very difficult, one is to have a ready replacement. And the most, most difficult thing for any club or sporting director, it's to get rid of the players that you don't want. You want to have a committed squad but the players that you tell are not in your plans, those ones are the most difficult to move on."

Jack Clarke's contract will help Sunderland in negotiations

The Sunderland model dictates that they buy young and develop prospects, as they have done with Clarke, and then sell them for huge profits, which they would get if they sold Clarke.

A sale seems inevitable; whether it happens now or later down the line, the winger doesn't look like he's going to be sticking around in the northeast for the rest of his career.

The interest in the 23-year-old is understandable, to say the least, given the campaign that he has just had.

He's been offered a new deal in the past, which he rejected, but his current contract schedules him to stick around until at least the summer of 2026, unless the club says otherwise.

This gives Sunderland