SUNDERLAND will benefit from any future sale of Jack Clarke as part of the deal that saw the winger join Ipswich Town in the final month of the transfer window.

The Black Cats agreed to sell Clarke to the Portman Road club for an initial fee of £15m, with around £5m of future add-ons also having been agreed.

However, as well as inserting performance-related clauses into the deal, Sunderland also successfully pressed for the inclusion of a sell-on clause that will kick in if Clarke leaves Ipswich in the future.

It is understood the sell-on agreement has been set at around 15 per cent, which could entitle Sunderland to a hefty windfall if Clarke develops successfully with Ipswich and moves on again in the future.

While the primary aim behind the sale of the 23-year-old this summer was to ensure the Black Cats did not leave themselves in a vulnerable position given that Clarke had entered the final two years of his deal on Wearside and had rebuffed attempts to discuss a new contract, the Sunderland hierarchy were also determined to leave themselves in the strongest possible position in the future.

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Hence their insistence that they would not allow Clarke to leave the North-East without a sell-on agreement being in place.

Sunderland’s executive team are also confident that the add-on clauses agreed as part of the deal should all be met during the course of Clarke’s stay in Suffolk.

Clarke made his Ipswich debut in last week’s Carabao Cup defeat at the hands of AFC Wimbledon, and was a second-half substitute as the Tractor Boys picked up their first Premier League point of the season in a 1-1 draw with Fulham last weekend.