Former Sunday Mirror sports news editor Darren Witcoop, has developed a reputation as a transfer specialist, and he broke the news about the player possibly making a return to Fratton Park. Witcoop said in a post on X on Saturday night that Pompey were ‘keen’ on signing Clarke. They face competition however from their relegation rivals Derby County, who also had Clarke on their books before.
Pompey are in the process of finalising a move for Hayden Matthews, who plays in the same position as Clarke. Matthews will cost Pompey £1.2m, which is the largest amount of money they have spent on a player since returning to the Championship.
They have already one centre-half this month, with Rob Atkinson joining from Bristol City. Conor Shaughnessy is expected to make a return to action shortly, however Regan Poole has suffered an injury setback. Despite being well stocked in the position, there would be some excitement among some supporters to see one of their heroes return.
Matt Clarke profiled
Clarke is a 28-year-old centre-back, currently with Middlesbrough. He’s played 17 times across three competitions for the Boro this season. Michael Carrick started the season with the Barham-born defender, but for the last six consecutive league matches, he has been an unused substitute. His last start for middlesbrough in the league came in a 3-1 defeat to Leeds United in mid-December.
Ipswich Town is where the six foot one defender began his career, but it was at Pompey where he had his longest playing spell. He initally joined on loan, but that was later made in to a permanent deal with Adam Webster going the other way.
Over four seasons, Clarke made a total of 175 appearances, scoring nine goals, and helped them win promotion from League Two in 2017. In 2019, he joined Brighton from Pompey on a four-year-deal in 2019 for an undisclosed fee – believed to be around £4m.
Seagulls fans didn’t see much from Clarke though, as he joined Derby County on a season-long loan a month after. He had two separate loan spells at Pride Park, playing 81 times for the East Midlands outfit. Brighton once again shipped him out on loan again, giving him to West Brom for the year.
In August 2022, Middlesbrough signed Clarke for an undisclosed fee, which was rumoured to be around £2.5m. Unfortunately due to Brighton selling him at a loss, Pompey didn’t receive any sell-on fee from the deal.
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