Jack Clarke: How Sunderland helped reinvigorated 'unplayable' ex-Leeds United, Spurs ace and what happens next

"I'm not going to tell you that he's flying," Tony Mowbray told reporters after the win over Sheffield Wednesday on Friday night.

"I've got to keep his feet on the ground," he added.

The subject of the question, unsurprisingly, was Jack Clarke and it was even less of a surprise that Mowbray wasn't able to maintain the ruse for long. Before long the head coach was describing him as 'unplayable' and 'amazing'.

Neither could be described as hyperbole. Clarke may have been the subject of Mowbray's ire in the half-time team talk at Ewood Park, when the head coach felt the work rate in front of him in the dugout had dipped, but his performance after the break was outrageously good. So good that 'Clarke will tear you apart' was born on the terraces, a timely ode to a player who has taken his game to another level in the early stages of this campaign.

How Sunderland helped Jack Clarke reach a new level

Clarke is now the Championship's joint top scorer alongside Adam Armstrong and though the 22-year-old's numbers have been boosted from the penalty spot, that in itself is a sign of his confidence and form. After all, he won two of the three himself.

Mowbray had spent much of the summer pushing hard for further attacking reinforcements behind the scenes, concerned about the loss of Amad's goals and potentially Ross Stewart's too. In their absence, Clarke has emerged as the star of a side who are threatening in the early stages of the campaign to match last season's heroics.

It has been, in Mowbray's words, a 'miraculous' re-emergence for a player whose early breakthrough at Leeds United so dramatically ebbed away at Tottenham Hotspur. Mowbray had been at Blackburn Rovers when they were one of many clubs to pass up the chance to sign Clarke on loan, underwhelmed by his performances in the Spurs U23 side and feeling that he had lost his way

The player Mowbray watched cut through Rotherham United on his first night in charge was one reborn, and that was only the start.

Part of that is technical and hard work on the training ground, Mowbray explaining earlier this season how they have worked hard to improve his goal output by ensuring he makes more runs to the back post when the ball is on the opposite flank. Clarke has also become much harder to defend against now that he is just as comfortable taking his marker on the outside and crossing left-footed from the byline.

All of this is part of the individual development plan Sunderland devise for every player, a key reason why they believe they have been able to rehabilitate a number of attacking talents in recent seasons. The most important they have given Clarke, of course, is opportunity. Consistency of opportunity has, in time, led to consistency of performance.

The big summer transfer call paying off for player and club

Clarke's early-season form is also vindication for Sunderland's decision to stand firm when Burnley came calling, not just for themselves but for the player himself.

Though in the end it was Ross Stewart who became Sunderland's high-profile departure of the summer window, much of the noise through the early stages of the summer surrounded Clarke. Burnley made a number of bids to test the Black Cats' resolve but they barely scratched the surface of eight figures and as such, the response was an emphatic no each and every time.

As Mowbray hinted in his club media interview after the Sheffield Wednesday win, the 22-year-old might already be tempting clubs to consider bidding double.

The head coach knew there was the possibility of departures throughout the summer window but with Clarke, he was relatively relaxed throughout. At the height of public speculation, shortly after the club's return from the US, there were widespread reports that the winger was miffed that the club were seemingly unwilling to sanction his departure.

After an open training session in which Clarke had looked sharp and settled, the head coach said his conversations with the player himself didn't reflect that. Clarke had told Mowbray that he would be happy to speak to Burnley if Sunderland's valuation was met, but that he was no in rush to leave.

Privately, Sunderland felt that they were placed to stand firm. Everything they had seen from Clarke behind the scenes suggested that Clarke was grateful for the platform that the club had given him to rebuild his career and that his experience at Tottenham Hotspur had shown that the Premier League, attractive though it undeniably is, isn't it the be-all and end-all.

The winger also understood that were he to kick on again at Sunderland this season, that opportunity would come again. Perhaps it would come with a promotion at Sunderland, which would obviously be the ideal scenario. If not, then there would be top-tier more bids and with another impressive campaign under his belt, they would in all likelihood be more lucrative and from more established top-tier teams. Clarke's chances of moving to a club as a genuine starter, rather than a squad option, would also be greatly increased. After his Spurs experience, that is an important point.

Would Clarke have moved to Burnley had they put in a huge bid this summer? Very possibly, perhaps even probably. Some of the reporting around the subject, though, surprised those at the club who felt comfortable with the player's application and attitude throughout pre-season. When the winger scored minutes into the Southampton game after a noisy day or so of speculation (that goal a direct result of that back-post training work), his exuberant celebration told its own story. Neither club nor player have looked back since.

"He's not sulking, not upset that we rejected those bids," Mowbray said after the win at Loftus Road last month.

"I think he enjoys playing with these lads, knowing that he's an important player for us. I just want him to take him people on, he can bend them in the top corner, clip it to the back post. Him and Roberts have eliminated players and damaged teams ever since I arrived here."

What happens next for Jack Clarke and Sunderland

Everyone, including Sunderland supporters, understands the matter hasn't been resolved definitively.

Ideally Sunderland would like to further strengthen their hand, and reward Clarke's obvious progress, by handing him a new and improved deal. The major challenge they have now, though, is that Burnley's interest has underlined his earning power elsewhere and those levels are likely to be ones that Sunderland right now simply cannot reach. The early indications are that the gap will be difficult to bridge, though they are very early days. There are similarities here with Ross Stewart's rise, the obvious difference being that with over two-and-a-half years left to run on Clarke's current deal, there is no need for anyone to panic.

Clarke may well be one of a few players in this squad where Sunderland know they are in something of a race. They either have to get to the Premier League, or accept the likelihood that the riches of the top tier will be too vast for any party to resist.

Clarke's current contractual situation at least means in that scenario, the fee (even accounting for a sell-on clause in Spurs' favour) will be vast and provide the chance to reinvest heavily in the squad.

All that is for another day, anyway. For now, Clarke and Sunderland can enjoy a union that is bringing goals, assists, points and some of the best football Wearside has seen for years.