What Danny Röhl told in-demand Sunderland star after Sheffield Wednesday's heavy defeat

Clarke didn’t get on the scoresheet for the Black Cats at the Stadium of Light as they stuck four past the Owls in their Championship encounter, however he did cause all sorts of problems for the Wednesday backline and was a constant thorn in their side throughout the encounter.

The 23-year-old is an in-demand player at this point in time with Leeds United just one of the clubs said to be interested in him, and while Sunderland fans will be hoping that he’s still with the club at the end of this month, Röhl believes that - with performances like Sunday’s - he’s destined to move up to ‘the next level’. And he told him as much.

“In the last game Sunderland were in no man's land,” he told the Sunderland Echo. “When I saw today the performance from Clarke and performed it with the last game here, it's a huge difference. I told him this after the game, it was a great performance, we saw your quality, if you play like this always you'll go to the next level. It's not my job to tell him this but I did.

“Today, we didn't really get into the game. After 10 minutes you have a feeling as a manager, if you are making the runs, if you are sharp enough, today it was a bit off. I take responsibility and hopefully, I'll take the right things from this game and prepare my team for a strong fight against Leeds.”

Join our Whatsapp channel for your Wednesday news without the fuss of social media

Wednesday, meanwhile, have now turned their attentions to Friday night’s game against Leeds as they return to Hillsborough, and they’ll be desperate to put their Wearside defeat to bed with another good S6 showing to back up their opening day win over Plymouth Argyle.