Sunderland were always going to struggle without Jack Clarke being present, but it’s fair to say the Black Cats’ form has fallen off a cliff since the former Tottenham Hotspur man has occupied the treatment room.
Mike Dodds’ men are winless in their five Championship games since Clarke picked up an ankle ligament knock in the direct aftermath of Michael Beale’s last game in the Sunderland hot-seat, the Wearside outfit looking lost without their star man’s additional bit of quality to get over the line in games.
The likes of Abdoullah Ba and Romaine Mundle have shown bits here and there down the flanks with Clarke out, Mundle even scoring last match against Southampton in a 4-2 defeat.
But, Dodds could now be tempted to utilise the immense youth talent coming through at the Stadium of Light further in the form of one exciting left winger who might well be as crucial to his team as Clarke in the years to follow.
Tommy Watson’s statistics at youth level
It wouldn’t be that left-field from Dodds to slowly but surely integrate 17-year-old Tommy Watson into the first-team set-up soon, with 16-year-old Chris Rigg becoming a regular in the interim manager’s plans recently.
Watson would arguably warrant a run in the senior side based on his glowing statistics at youth level for Sunderland this campaign, the teenage sensation bagging six goals from 11 appearances.
One of those strikes would even come in the Premier League 2 this year when Watson was bumped up to the U21 fold away from the U18s, getting in on the goalscoring act as Sunderland wreaked havoc against Nottingham Forest 5-0.
Netting 21 goals in total for the Black Cats at youth level over three seasons, the 17-year-old winger will start banging down the door for first-team opportunities having signed his first professional contract with the Wearside club in September last year.
Watson will want to follow in Rigg’s footsteps – having seen his fellow starlet make 13 appearances this season in the Championship – and his opportunity could come with Clarke still absent and the Black Cats in need of an injection of positivity.
Tommy Watson as Jack Clarke’s heir
Watson coming in instantly to the first team and being as devastatingly effective as Clarke won’t happen overnight, but with rumours that the former Spurs man could be on his way out of the Stadium of Light in the summer, the 17-year-old might well be the natural long-term heir to the 15-goal man.
Described as being an “exciting” and “dynamic” attacker by Academy Manager Robin Nicholls when putting pen to paper on his first professional deal, time will ultimately tell if Watson can become Sunderland’s next hero in the same mould as Clarke.
Rigg hasn’t looked out of his depth in Dodds’ lineups despite still being a wide-eyed youngster, winning seven ground duels against Leicester City earlier this month, and so Watson will have to go in and not be fazed by the bright lights in a similar fashion whenever he’s allowed a run-out in the second tier.
The highly regarded winger will want to come in and re-energise the flat mood on Wearside, giving Sunderland a taster of what he’s made of as the natural successor to Clarke.
