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.
