Kristjaan Speakman has explained the reasoning for letting the trio of Bailey Wright, Jay Matete and Leon Dajaku leave Sunderland on loan in the January transfer window...
WRIGHT
"His impact on and off the pitch in the time I have been here has been nothing short of outstandingly positive. These are really difficult scenarios because your inner-selfishness says keep him around the group because he can have such a positive impact - and I do appreciate we have a very young group, and we are taking out some of that experience."
GAME TIME
"But at the same time we have to be fair to Bails and he wants to play more regularly. If we are fully-fit then he probably doesn't play as much as he wants to. We had this discussion all the way through January as to what the best options would be and there was a good chance he was going to stay, but the Rotherham opportunity gives him a chance to play at the same level and keeps him relevant, if you like, in terms of the level we are playing at. We're really hopeful he can go there and do well."
PROFESSIONAL
"It's an easy one for us when their coach [Rotherham boss Matt Taylor] phones us and wants to have a conversation about what type of person he is - he probably thought I was over-egging it a bit, but that's Bails! He is the consummate professional on and off the pitch and I'm really proud he is a Sunderland player. He will come back in the summer and we'll have to review where he is at."
MATETE/DAJAKU
"Jay and Leon are probably in a similar bracket in terms of them having an impact and being positive but the team has done so well that they have just not managed to get the opportunities that we might have anticipated they would get this season. I think it would be remiss of us to just carry on through the season and for them not to get the opportunity to play games and come back in pre-season in the right spot. So we made that judgement call and I think we got really good opportunities for them."
MATETE
"For Jay to go to Plymouth, who are top of the league and with the pressure and expectation of getting up, is something very similar what we need him to be thinking about at Sunderland, but while he is getting the minutes and they are also taking on his development plan and delivering that at Plymouth."
DAJAKU
For Leon, it's very, very similar - we were trying to get him an opportunity to play at an appropriate level where he is getting the right amount of challenge but also hopefully some success."
SUMMER REVIEW
"We'll be able to review and evaluate those two guys over the coming months and they'll come back in the summer and they'll both be trying to find a way to get into this team."
