Kristjaan Speakman says Sunderland's latest retained list is evidence that the club is no longer 'limping from short-term strategy to short-term strategy'. The Black Cats published their retained list yesterday and it showed just one senior player - midfielder Carl Winchester - out-of-contract this summer, with all the club's key talent already under contract.
That avoided a repeat of the situation last summer where five first-teamers were released at the end of their contracts, and another three were still in talks over new deals although the trio all ended up staying. The year before, seven first-teamers were released and four more were in contract talks, three of whom stayed.
This summer there is more stability in the group, with players such as Dan Neil and Corry Evans handed new deals earlier this year, while the club had already exercised options to extend the contracts of Danny Batth, Alex Pritchard and Ross Stewart. Sporting director Speakman said the club is now in a very different place with contracts to the one he inherited when he was appointed midway through the 2020-21 season as part of the process which saw Kyril Louis-Dreyfus take over on Wearside, with his remark about short-term strategies relating to the way things were run under the previous regime under then-owner Stewart Donald.
READ MORE: Kristjaan Speakman identifies Sunderland's biggest challenge in the summer transfer window
"You want to have well-structured contracts and the nature of the club when we inherited it was that it was limping from short-term strategy to short-term strategy, which is never ideal," Speakman told the club's Youtube channel. "We've certainly tried to build a squad that has some longevity in it, and I think naturally when you acquire talented players you want to retain those talented players for as long as possible.
"Ultimately, there might be an end-date to that whether a contract runs to the end or you sell a player, whatever it might be, but we think we are in a really good spot at the minute. We've still got a lot of work to do so we are not complacent in any shape or form, but we feel we have got into a rhythm and a way of working that will hopefully bring some future successes."
Winchester was the first signing made under Speakman in January 2021, and he played an important role in the club's play-off charge in the 2021-22 season which ended with the Black Cats winning promotion from League One via the play-offs at Wembley 12 months ago. But the 30-year-old spent last season on loan at Shrewsbury Town and his deal at Sunderland has now expired, however Speakman praised the Northern Irishman's contribution.
He said: "That's the difficult part of my kind of job. We get to sign players, we get to talk about positive parts of the season but also there are some more difficult conversations.
"Carl is an absolutely top guy and we over the last two-and-a-half years since I have been at the football club have relied on certain individuals coming in and really embracing what it is about and driving it forward, and Carl was one of those. I've had some really good conversations with him over the last month about what his future looks like.
"We should send a big thank you to him because he really embraced Sunderland both on and off the pitch. If you consider the fact that he came as a central midfield player by trade but executed the right-back position for a full season to a really high level which helped get us into the Championship.
"I think he understands how highly we respect him."
READ NEXT
- Ex-chairman Stewart Donald exits Sunderland after selling his remaining stake
- Kristjaan Speakman praises Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray without addressing rumours over his position
- Sunderland must aim to ditch underdog tag and become promotion favourites warns Tony Mowbray
- Sunderland's attacking style given seal of approval by Aston Villa boss Unai Emery
- Sunderland skipper signs up to take UEFA coaching badge over the summer
