Kristjaan Speakman claims that Sunderland are planning on keeping their biggest assets at the club, with long-term contracts putting the club in the driver's seat in most situations.
NEGOTIATIONS
“From our contractual status and planning, we have got players that are on contracts where it’s Sunderland’s decision what happens to those players to a certain degree. We are constantly negotiating with players."
PROTECTION
"You want happy players in the club to obviously then perform but ultimately we are putting ourselves in position where we are protecting the club. We are looking after the players and therefore everyone is happy."
AMBITION
“We want players that want to play at the highest level. I’ve got no issue with players in League One saying they want be in the Championship or players saying ‘if we are going to be stuck in League One, I want to move to the Championship’. They are the players you want. You don’t want the players that are happy just doing what they are normally doing."
CHAMPIONSHIP QUALITY
“We have got to try and service them with having the club in the right league. At the minute, that puts us in the box seat.”
PREMIER LEAGUE
“Hopefully in a few years, we’re going to be talking about Premier League teams taking our players and we have got to try and get in the Premier League to keep those players again. There are some really talented individuals regardless of age in our squad that I think are going to be really important for us next year.”
