Sunderland may well regret not trying harder to sign Jonson Clarke-Harris during the January transfer window rather than turning to Jermain Defoe.
Speaking in a recent interview with Football Insider, former Sunderland forward Kevin Phillips claimed that the club were right not to chase the 27-year-old, stating: “Only time will tell if Jermain Defoe was good business. I think it will be. Hopefully, he will get some important goals along the way. For the sort of money they were talking, I think Sunderland were wise not to go there with Clarke-Harris.”
It was confirmed by Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony a few weeks ago on Twitter that then-Sunderland boss Lee Johnson was interested in bringing the Championship man to the Stadium of Light, however, the club instead turned to free agent Defoe after he ran down his contract at Rangers, as he returned to the club after leaving them in 2017.
However, Defoe hasn’t exactly hit the ground running during his second stint at the club.
He’s been a substitute in all of his appearances so far, and has only managed to play a total of 55 minutes. This might be due to the need to get him back up to match fitness, having only played twice for Rangers this campaign, and he wasn’t able to find the back of the net in either of those games, meaning that his last goal came last season.
But when you consider the situation Sunderland are in – now on the outside looking in when it comes to the play-offs – they arguably needed someone who could make an instant impact on the side, rather than looking at the long-term.
And looking at Clarke-Harris’ form in League One, with three consecutive double-digit returns in terms of goals in the league – including 31 last season, he is someone they really ought to have been bringing in instead.
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And in a more direct comparison, Clarke-Harris is currently averaging 1.7 shots per game at Peterbrough, more than Defoe has ever managed since leaving Sunderland and 0.7 key passes, something that Defoe hasn’t managed since 2015/16, so once again, when it comes to making an instant impact on the side, it’s clear that Clarke-Harris is the man that they should have gone for rather than Defoe.
Whilst the reported £6m-plus fee might have seemed like a lot, but for the instant return that they could have got with Clarke-Harris and the financial reward they’d have got for promotion back to the Championship, it surely comes across as a gamble that they should have taken.
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