OPINION
Newcastle United are about as blessed with talented centre halves as they have ever been during Rafael Benitez’s reign, and that fact may spell the end for Ciaran Clark’s Magpies career.
When you look at each of Newcastle’s centre halves, there’s little argument that Clark is the weakest. Jamaal Lascelles, Federico Fernandez, Florian Lejeune and Fabian Schar have all proven themselves to be superior defenders.
That is no knock on the Republic of Ireland international, merely an acknowledgement that he faces insurmountable odds at the moment at St James’ Park.
The 29-year-old is a squad player at Premier League level, and it just so happens that Benitez has better options at his disposal. Clark’s last two performances show that to be true.
He was caught out horrifically by David Luiz’s splendid long ball to Pedro for Chelsea’s opening goal last Saturday, and his equaliser later in the game was not enough to redeem a pretty poor display.
He struggled again for the first 45 minutes against Blackburn Rovers in the FA Cup on Tuesday, before an injury saw him replaced at half time. He did alright at the start of the game, but come the end of the opening period it was clear that his head was not quite in the contest.
Again, the problem for Clark is the quality of his competition, making sub-par performances extremely costly for him. With the strength of the players ahead of him you have to think that his time on Tyneside will be coming to an end sooner rather than later.
It’s no secret that Benitez is a little short on funds to spend this January. It might help him to offload some deadwood in order to free up cash to bring fresh faces in.
Clark is a prime candidate to be sold. He is, all things being equal, fifth on the docket at centre back, and therefore disposable. For him, too, a move could be the best thing. He deserves to play regular football, and it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen at Newcastle moving forward.
A lower half top flight club or a promotion-chasing Championship outfit could make much better use of the Irishman than Benitez can moving forward.
Clark has been a good servant to Newcastle, but the time has come to move him on. Benitez would be wise to show him the St James’ Park exit door this month.
