Kristjaan Speakman was asked directly about Dan Neil's contract amid reports that the midfielder rejected a recent offer. Our Sporting Director says that Sunderland remain in talks with their top players.
RETAIN THE TALENT
“We've always tried to retain the top talent. Those conversations are ongoing for numbers of players."
MAKE THEM COMFORTABLE
“I think we try to keep a really, really close contact with the agents of all the players to know how they're feeling, where they feel they are at the minute, what they think is the next step for them, how comfortable are they with the environment, what can we do to chop and change things here to make sure they're really, really comfortable."
ACTIVE CONVERSATIONS
“And naturally, if anyone's got a contract they're starting to get towards the conclusion of, then we're always really active on that front.”
STRONG INTENT
“As I've said before, I'd much rather get loads of interest in our talented players than be struggling to name talented players in our group. So, I don't want to go into the individual ins and outs because those things always can chop and change. But I can reiterate our strategy, and our intent is to retain our top talent.”
