One of Sunderland’s targets to potentially replace Jack Clarke has now spoken out on his future.
Sunderland are likely to face one of their biggest challenges under their current ownership this summer, with Jack Clarke tipped to move to the Premier League.
The winger has now scored 24 goals since the Black Cats were promoted to the Championship, and has attracted interest from the likes of Burnley, Brentford and West Ham.
Clarke’s agent, Ian Harte, has already suggested that the attacker won’t be putting pen to paper on a new deal and is likely to depart the Stadium of Light in the summer, while the club will surely be already looking at potential replacements.
One man who Sunderland have been linked with is Liam Millar, with Alan Nixon reporting in January that the club arekeen to bring him in to fill Clarke’s boots.
Millar came up through Liverpool’s academy before joining Basel in 2021. The winger netted seven goals in his first campaign in Switzerland, but failed to score a goal since 2022 and eventually joined Preston North End on loan.
The 24-year-old has five goals and five assists for the Lilywhites this term and has been compared to Aiden McGeady during his ‘unbelievable‘ stint at Deepdale.
Millar will enter the final 12 months of his contract with Basel in the summer, while he has already admitted he has ‘no idea’ what will happen.
When asked about as his future, as per Sunderland Echo, Millar said: “You never know what can happen next season. I have no idea. We’ll have to cross that bridge when I get there.
“I had something to prove, in my opinion, in England. I left Liverpool and I always wanted to come back and prove I was good enough to play in the Championship. And hopefully, I can prove one day that I’m good enough to play in the Premier League.
“In Switzerland, it was difficult for me sometimes off the field – with the language and not being near my family. My mom, my dad, my brother, my sister. And all that kind of stuff. So, being in England, being back in the northwest where they all live, really helps. I think the stuff off the pitch really carries on to the pitch and it really helps me to play well.”
Is Liam Millar the right replacement for Jack Clarke?
Liam Millar has made the seventh-most successful dribbles in the Championship this season (66), but has made the same amount of key passes as Abdoullah Ba and almost half the amount of shots than Clarke.
While we know it is going to be extremely difficult to find a player willing to join Sunderland who is of similar quality to Clarke, but Millar doesn’t seem like the man who is going to get double figures in goals on Wearside.
The Preston loanee has never scored more than seven goals in a season, while he is already turning 25 years old later this year and surely only has a limited amount of space for developing further.
The Canadian now only has two goals in his last 13 games for the Lilywhites – a record that certainly wouldn’t be good enough for Sunderland.
The Black Cats are likely to rake in over £20m for their star man, so to spend maybe a few million in Millar would be a missed opportunity.