Sunderland have confirmed that players will not have to be sold during the summer to fund a recruitment drive.
The Wearside club have recently sold Darren Bent and Lorik Cana, and Steve Bruce, the manager, has hinted that he will be looking for replacements for the high-profile pair in the off-season.
However, Steve Walton, the club’s chief executive, insisted that members of the squad would not have to be off-loaded in order for this to happen.
“Players will absolutely not have to be sold to balance the books,” Walton, who has been at Sunderland since 2009, said.
“Any sales will be dictated by what is right for the manager and balancing the dressing room.
Advertisement
“Of course we can’t legislate for transfers which come from left field, such as those involving Bent and Cana.”
Bent, an England striker, shocked Sunderland by handing in a transfer request in January and subsequently left the North East club for Aston Villa in a £24 million move.
Meanwhile Cana, the club’s former skipper, left for Galatasaray, the Turkish side, last summer just a year after arriving at the Stadium of Light in a £5 million switch from Marseilles.
However, Bruce decided not to rush into finding replacements for the duo in the January transfer window. The Northumberland-born manager has had to commit to a measured approach to spending under Ellis Short, the club’s owner.
Speaking alongside Walton in South Shields, Niall Quinn, Sunderland’s chairman, also confirmed that the club were in talks with Steed Malbraque to extend the midfield player’s contract.
Advertisement
Jordan Henderson, the 20-year-old midfield player, has also reiterated his desire to stay at the Wearside club, despite rumours that Manchester United and Manchester City were looking to snap up the England international.
“I’m playing every week in the Premier League and that’s all I have ever dreamed of doing,” Henderson told The Journal.
“I’m young and I’m playing for Sunderland. It’s something I love doing. I just want to keep doing that, keep improving, keep getting better as a player.”