Part and parcel of being a club in the lower leagues in England, as Sunderland had been for far too long, is that you are constantly at risk of clubs higher up the food chain snatching your best talent.
The Black Cats finished 16th in the Championship at the end of the 2023/24 campaign, falling well short of the play-offs, and it was time for Jack Clarke to make his way up the pyramid without the club.
Ipswich Town swooped to sign the winger in a deal that could rise to £20m, following their promotion to the Premier League, and that meant that Sunderland hit the jackpot with the forward.
How Sunderland struck gold with Jack Clarke
The Black Cats signed the English wizard from Tottenham Hotspur on a permanent deal in 2022, after an initial loan spell on Wearside, and Transfermarkt valued him at £2.9m at the time of the move.
Market Movers
Football FanCast’s Market Movers series explores the changing landscape of the modern transfer market. How much is your club’s star player or biggest flop worth today?
Clarke went on to rack up 24 goals and 16 assists in two seasons in the Championship with Sunderland as an exciting wing wizard, which convinced Ipswich to splash a fee of up to £20m on his services.
This shows that his value soared by just over £17m during his spell at the club, thanks to his performances in the second tier, which shows that the Black Cats struck gold with the winger by providing him with a platform to showcase his talent on a regular basis.
There is now a player in the current squad who is on his way to becoming Jack Clarke 2.0, as Sunderland have already hit the jackpot with Eliezer Mayenda.
How high Eliezer Mayenda's value has soared
The man who got Sunderland back into the game at Wembley with a terrific strike in the play-off final has been a terrific signing for the club.
Mayenda arrived from Sochaux in the summer of 2023, valued at just £252k by Transfermarkt at the time, and he failed to score in eight Championship appearances during the 2023/24 campaign.
Regis Le Bris came through the door last summer, though, and transformed the young starlet, who went on to provide ten goals and five assists in 40 outings in the second tier.
July 2023
£252k
October 2023
£419k
December 2023
£587k
September 2024
£838k
March 2025
£3.5m
May 2025
£10m
As you can see in the table above, the 20-year-old star’s market value has soared by a staggering 3,868% since his initial move to the Stadium of Light, to the point that he is now valued at a whopping £10m.
Mayenda, who was described as a “threat” by Kevin Phillips, has followed in Clarke’s footsteps as a young player who has soared in value as a result of performing brilliantly in the Championship, thanks to the opportunities given to him by Le Bris.
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This shows that Sunderland have hit the jackpot with the Spain U21 international, because they snapped him up when his value was low and have turned him into an incredibly valuable player and asset ahead of their return to the Premier League.