SUNDERLAND boss Tony Mowbray says Jack Clarke is not “sulking” at not getting a Premier League move and he enjoys inflicting “damage” on other teams.

The Black Cats rejected multiple summer bids from Burnley for the 22-year-old, who scored 11 goals and 13 assists in all competitions last season.

The former Tottenham winger got on the scoresheet for the second game in a row, after finding the net against Southampton earlier this month, as his deflected strike helped Mowbray’s men ease to a 3-1 victory over ten-man QPR at Loftus Road on Saturday.

With Sunderland now without Ross Stewart, Amad Diallo and Ellis Simms this season, Clarke is arguably more important to the team than ever before. And Mowbray believes the ex-Leeds United player has now taken his game to another level.

“Jack was brilliant last year, he had more than 20 goals and assists off the left wing," said the Black Cats boss. "The work has been about getting him in the box. His goal last time out where he scores with a one-touch header at the back stick, a year ago he would probably still be stuck on the left wing, waiting for the team to transfer the ball out to his feet.

"He is getting in goalscoring areas now, he is understanding that he has to score as well as create. He has got his confidence. There were big bids in for him in the summer, the club decided, in my opinion, that they weren’t right, so here he is. He is not sulking, he is not upset that he didn’t go to the Premier League because the club didn’t think the fee was right.

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“I think he enjoys playing with these lads, knowing he is an important player for us and he is an eliminator. I just want him to take people on. He can go inside, outside, he’s fast but he’s also tricky. He can bend them into the top corner, he can clip them to the backstick. In my year here, him and (Patrick) Roberts have been real eliminators and damagers of teams.”

Against QPR, Clarke repeatedly evaded the clutches of Osman Kakay and Paul Smyth thanks to his pace and trickery.

“What does Smyth do with him? Does he stay high like he wants to or does he have to worry about these two players that are standing right out there? Generally, you get pushed back into a five and he has to go back, so he stays away from where he is really good and damaging us because he is thinking about the wide player,” added Mowbray.

“And on the other side, their wing-back can’t move because he has got a guy stood there all the time. It helps pin teams back but they have to be able to eliminate, stick it through someone’s legs to get to the other side, or play a tight little one-two, get in, cut it back and we score. We’ve been doing that really, really well and Clarke in particular.”