SPEAKMAN ON PLAYER TRADING

Kristjaan Speakman has explained how this summer's overhaul is proof that selling star players like Jobe Bellingham and Tommy Watson (and previously Jack Clarke and Ross Stewart) was key in allowing the club to level up and use the transfer window as a 'reset' in the top flight. He believes the Black Cats' £150m spending spree is a one-off and is not to be expected every year, now we've got a core of top-quality young players through the spine of the team.

TOP FLIGHT OPERATION

"Moving to the Premier League is a reset on and off the pitch. You know, it's the best league in the world. It's the most competitive, fierce league in the world. And therefore, you've got to be ready to be able to compete in that. So it was important for us to be able to make the moves we've made."

BUILD THE FOUNDATIONS

"I think the squad composition and the players, we've always spoken, and this is where our culture hopefully will come through, and it's the foundation of how we operate, which is we've signed a lot of players we believe that we can develop and coach and improve to be better. So with those players, if you're able to do that, you don't need to go out and sign another player [in future windows]. Because Habib Diarra, for example, comes into the building and he grows with the club."

LONG-TERM RECRUITMENT

"We've always spoken about there's an end point. Naturally, you know, you see a lot of trades within the Premier League. You've seen a lot over the last few weeks. So that's always something that can happen at the outset, at the end. But for us, we want to try to grow the team. We certainly feel there's a number of players in our squad at the minute that can be part of the now and part of the future."

WATSON/JOBE EXITS

"Yeah, it's really difficult because when you sit in my position and we talk about maybe good decisions [selling players], I feel it sounds a little bit disingenuous. I think what I would like to say is we've always tried to be consistent with what we're trying to do and how we're trying to do it. And we will always believe that those decisions and that way of working would put us in a positive position. And I think like anything, when you apply a new principle and maybe a new way of working, it takes time to be able to communicate that and for everyone to feel comfortable with it."

KEEP MAKING SALES

"You know, we've always understood that and we've always understood that over that period of time we're maybe going to take criticism on some of those decisions. But, you know, Jack Clarke, Ross Stewart, these types of trades that we've had have kept our transfers and our squad building going. They're all really, really important. I think you can see that every club in the world is susceptible to trading and transfers and you have to be well prepared at the start with your contract and you have to be well prepared to be able to replace."

PSR RESTRICTIONS

"Yeah, I think you have to have conviction in your decision-making on these players. So the reason we have been in good shape with the Mayendas of this world, to be able to renegotiate, is because we've gone out really early and they're on five-year contracts. And some of the players that you've seen brought in, they're on long contracts. So we feel security. But we feel security because we've got conviction in their ability, their mentality, and their desire to keep improving."

BLEND OF YOUTH & EXPERIENCE

"And we've tried in the squad to make sure that we've got some players that understand what 'tier 1' Premier League football looks like in Reinildo and [Granit] Xhaka. And then we've tried to also have a blend of some younger players that we feel can play the level, which is super important, but also have the ability to have future potential and future growth. That's just sticking with our culture that we've always believed in since day one."