Kristjaan Speakman has revealed that Sunderland will not be engaging in contract negotiations with Dan Neil and Dennis Cirkin until the end of the season. With the pair entering the final 18 months of their contracts, it is of course a priority to get them tied down long-term. However, the club have taken the decision to delay negotiations in order to avoid any distractions coming into the latter part of the season.
NOT THE RIGHT TIME
“We’ve had those conversations with the guys. There’s no question over Dennis or Dan’s commitment to Sunderland. But I don’t think at the minute, it’s the right moment to be getting into too much of a conversation with them. That’s really just down to the short time period we’ve got to the summer. We’ve got so much to achieve, and we need to stay focused."
NEIL CAPTAINCY
"Dan’s our captain. I think he’s grown into that captaincy role and, as the season has gone on, has become more and more influential. At the minute, we’re really comfortable with where he’s at, we’re just zoned in and focused on these remaining games."
OGUNSUYI ALSO LINKED AWAY
“We’re always trying to retain our talent. There’s a number of players across our pathway that we’d like to keep, and we try to stay ahead of all those conversations. So far, our track record has been fairly positive, so we’ll continue trying to do that. The demand for young talent in this country is really, really high at the minute. We’ve got to try to make sure that we look after Sunderland and keep that pipeline coming through. There’s a lot of players in our squad at the minute that have either come through our academy or we’ve signed them early and they’ve broken into the team and are now main parts of our starting XI.”
