JACK Clarke insists he won't be affected by the ongoing transfer speculation and uncertainty surrounding his Sunderland future and says the Black Cats are his only current focus.

Last season's star man is likely to be subject to further bids from elsewhere this summer after strong interest in the last two windows.

Burnley wanted Clarke 12 months ago while Lazio had bids knocked back in the January window. On the back of his 15-goal haul last season, Clarke is on the radar of several Premier League clubs, including Southampton, but, while aware of ongoing interest from elsewhere, the 23-year-old insists the speculation and his future is not on his mind.

"Obviously that interest has been there but it doesn't affect me," said the winger after Sunderland started their pre-season campaign in a double header against South Shields and Gateshead on Saturday.

"I'm still wearing a red and white shirt at the end of the day. That's what I'm focusing on. As long as I'm in a red and white shirt, that's all I'll be focusing on."

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Clarke has two years to run on his current contract and while negotiations have taken place in the past there's no indication an agreement on a new deal will be reached. That has led to suggestions that this summer will be the best opportunity for Sunderland to cash in on one of their star assets, but the Black Cats are understood to be calm about the situation and don't want to lose any of their best players this summer.

Clarke said: "I'm coming in every single day, wearing Sunderland colours every day. As long as I'm playing for Sunderland I won't be thinking about anything else.

"If things are going to happen then they're going to happen when they happen. I'm not focusing on anything else other than the present and in the present I'm playing for Sunderland."

The Black Cats beat South Shields 5-0 in Saturday's first friendly before going down 2-1 at Gateshead. Clarke started and played 70 minutes in the second game and was one of several players in that side who battled injury problems in the second half of last season. Jay Matete and Elliot Embleton both had long lay-offs, Dennis Cirkin and Aji Alese missed large chunks of last term and Nazariy Rusyn missed the final stretch.

While disappointed to lose to the National League side, Clarke wasn't concerned.

He said: "You have to look at the positives rather than the negatives.

"A lot of players haven't played for a while and it was good to get the minutes under our belt.

"With the new manager coming in there are things we have to learn quickly and try to get better as pre-season continues and hopefully take it into the season.

"He's only been in two weeks and we're still trying to implement things. We have a lot of boys coming back from loans and injuries who need to get up to match fitness pretty quickly.

"It didn't quite gel for us today but hopefully as pre-season continues we'll get more of an understanding of what he (Regis Le Bris) wants and we'll start putting in some better performances."