Kevin Phillips makes claim over Sunderland’s transfer interest in striker

Former Sunderland striker Kevin Phillips has told Football Insider that the club were right not to make a move for Peterborough United’s Jonson Clarke-Harris in January. 

The Black Cats were understandably keen to add some back up to their squad for top scorer Ross Stewart last month following the injury of Nathan Broadhead and were quickly linked with Clarke-Harris.

However the Posh are said to have wanted a fee of around £6 million for the player who helped to fire them to the Sky Bet Championship, which inevitably put Sunderland off making a move for the frontman.

As a result Jermain Defoe was signed instead and now Phillips has claimed that his old side made the right decision:

“Only time will tell if Jermain Defoe was good business. I think it will be. Hopefully he will get some important goals along the way.

“For the sort of money they were talking, I think Sunderland were wise not to go there with Clarke-Harris.”

The veteran former Glasgow Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur striker is yet to have found the back of the net on his return to the Stadium of Light and will be hoping that his fortunes will change in the near future.

Meanwhile Clarke-Harris has scored five goals across all competitions for Peterborough this season.

The Verdict 

It is a bit of a strange statement for Phillips to make when you take into account how prolific Clarke-Harris was for the Posh last season and you could easily argue that Defoe was nothing more than a headline signing to get the fans back onside.

They have brought in a player that is at the back end of his career and is now on the brink of retirement when they needed someone who could come in and score goals immediately.

Sunderland could well live to regret bringing in the wrong player