Stoke have turned down a £125,000 bid from Championship rivals Burnley and Premiership outfit Sunderland for skipper Clive Clarke.
Former City boss Steve Cotterill has already recruited Ade Akinbiyi, Gifton Noel-Williams and Wayne Thomas from the Britannia Stadium and Potters director of football John Rudge has now claimed the Clarets are in for the 25-year-old Republic of Ireland international.
Rudge says Premiership newcomers Sunderland have also seen a £100,000 offer rebuffed.
He added: "Obviously the manager (Johan Boskamp) has got to assess the players so we've turned down the offers from Burnley and Sunderland. He's an Irish international and the offers made are substantially less than the player is worth."
13/07/2005, 1:28 PM
Stuttgart88
£100k is a bit cheeky. Sunderland get all the upside & have virtually no downside. So, one one hand it's great that a Premiership club is looking at him but on the other, how serious are they?
My personal view, and I'd be interested to hear Zinedineontour's view, is that Clarke would get into Sunderland's first XI and be a very valuable player. From what I've seen of him he looks comfortable going forward & defends well. However I haven't seen whether he has the pace required for the higher level simply because the Championship & Unity Cup are hardly great benchmarks.
14/07/2005, 3:19 PM
robbie_B
Hammers move for Clarke
by Mark Buckingham - created on 14 Jul 2005
West Ham United have entered the race to sign Stoke City captain Clive Clarke.
The Irish full back is currently in demand after failing to be offered a new contract at The Britannia Stadium.
Clarke is keen to leave the Championship club due to a strained relationship with the board and he hopes Stoke will not prevent his exit.
The 25-year-old has just 12 months remaining on his present contract and The Potters are likely to succumb to Clarke's whim this summer.
However, Stoke are determined to receive the best possible price for the defender, having already rejected offers from Sunderland and Burnley.
Sunderland's bid of £100,000 was dismissed, along with Burnley's offer of £125,000, while Ipswich Town are also interested.
Reports suggest that Premiership new boys West Ham have also declared a willingness to hand Clarke his move away from Stoke.
The Hammers are purported to have offered £200,000 for the left back, although Stoke are aiming to hold out for a figure near to £500,000.
