Sunderland somehow never got what QPR have with ex-Chelsea defender: View | OneFootball

Jake Clarke-Salter flattered to deceive during his time playing for Sunderland

Since joining QPR in the summer of 2022, Jake Clarke-Salter has proven to be an excellent acquisition for the Hoops and has become a real standout player for Marti Cifuentes' side, but Sunderland fans may have slightly different memories of the defender.

The former Chelsea man joined the Black Cats on loan during their fateful 2017/18 Championship campaign which ultimately saw them suffer a second consecutive relegation, and it's fair to say that Clarke-Salter wasn't quite the player that he is now.

Admittedly, the Stadium of Light at that time was far from an ideal place for a young player to thrive with the club in crisis, but Clarke-Salter certainly didn't help matters, as Sunderland finished rock bottom of the Championship table.

However, since finding a permanent home in West London with QPR, Clarke-Salter has proven his worth as a Championship defender, something that Sunderland supporters perhaps never saw coming.

With Sunderland battling for survival at the wrong end of the Championship table, the club moved to sign Clarke-Salter on loan in January 2018 in the hope that the Chelsea prospect could improve matters at the Stadium of Light.

However, that wasn't to be the case, and his first taste of Championship football didn't go as planned. Things couldn't have got off to a worse start as he started his first game for Sunderland in a 4-0 defeat to Cardiff City, and things didn't get much better from there either.

The Black Cats were struggling for wins, with Clarke-Salter tasting victory just once in a Sunderland shirt, and he was shown a straight red card in a 3-3 draw against Middlesbrough for a nasty challenge on Adama Traore which meant he missed the next three games, hardly ideal with the club battling to stay in the division.

Clarke-Salter returned to the fold after his three-match ban, but incredibly, got sent off in his first game back against Preston after receiving two yellow cards, meaning he was suspended yet again.

Given their plight at the time, this was the last thing that Sunderland would have wanted, and he played just three more games following his ban, including nine minutes off the bench in their 2-1 home defeat to Burton Albion, which consigned the club to relegation to the third tier.

In total, the Chelsea loanee played 11 games for Sunderland, winning just once and receiving two red cards, a statistic that goes someway to showing how difficult Clarke-Salter found it at the Stadium of Light.

Six years on, it's fair to say that the defender has improved drastically at QPR, and his career has come a long way since his time on loan at Sunderland.

Jake Clarke-Salter has proved an excellent acquisition for QPR

After numerous loan spells with clubs both in the EFL and abroad, Clarke-Salter finally found a permanent home in the summer of 2022 when he made the short journey from Stamford Bridge to Loftus Road following his release by Chelsea.

The move to the Hoops has proved the perfect move for Clarke-Salter's career, and his performances have even seen him attract transfer interest recently, with the likes of Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, Wolves, Celtic and Stoke all reportedly interested earlier this summer, as per Football Insider and John Percy of The Telegraph.

A permanent home, playing regular football has proved hugely beneficial to his career, and Sunderland supporters will be frustrated that they never saw this version of Clarke-Salter at the Stadium of Light.

As a youngster, the centre-back looked out of his depth at Championship level with the Black Cats, but he must be commended for the way he's developed, and he's become a more than capable player in the second tier.

Had Sunderland had this version of Clarke-Salter back in 2018, they may well have avoided relegation, and he's an example of why young players shouldn't be written off after a disappointing loan spell early in their career.