Tony Mowbray sees Ross Stewart's 'engagement' in training as a positive sign as Sunderland continue their atttempts to tie down their star striker to a new contract. The future of Scotland international Stewart has been under intense scrutiny as contract negotiations have dragged on, and numerous clubs have been linked with the 26-year-old.
But Stewart has not allowed off-field matters to distract him, and has scored in each of the last five games since he returned to action following a thigh injury - and his last six outings if the game immediately before his injury is included in the run. Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray is being asked on a weekly basis for updates on his top scorer's situation but has stuck to the line that contract negotiations are the responsibility of sporting director Kristjaan Speakman, and says he is simply concentrating on getting the best out of Stewart on the pitch.
Asked whether he was confident Stewart would sign a new deal, Mowbray said: "Am I confident? I'll be confident when he puts pen to paper and we announce that he's signed a new deal! What I do know is that he's training really well, he's in a positive frame of mind.
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"If he sees something on the training ground that he thinks might help - if he needs the number ten to be closer to him or if he needs the wide player on the opposite side to get into the box - he's got a voice and gives an opinion. He's engaged with our football team and our football club is what I'm saying, he's not just out there thinking 'I'll see what happens, I'll see if I can score a goal', he's engaged with the team and he wants us to win.
"The stuff beyond that I can't really comment on because I don't get involved with it, it's not my job. My job is to keep the boy engaged with the team and wanting to score goals.
"We all hope we can find an answer to what keeps Ross happy and makes him feel like a very, very, important player for this football club."
The problem for Sunderland is that rival clubs in the upper echelons of the Championship have more financial muscle at present and can therefore offer higher wages. But Mowbray believes that once the Black Cats re-establish themselves in the second tier, they will be able to compete on salaries and it is a case of selling that concept to Stewart.
He said: "When do we get to a point where we can grow the team to where it satisfies his needs? To put it into context, we came out of League One with League One salary levels because you have to manage the club prudently.
"As you come up, how quickly do you jump to a team that can pay ridiculous money? We aren't there yet.
"We have to hope that he wants to be part of the journey. When we are paying top wages in the Championship - because we are a massive football club and we should be able to - then he knows that it's coming, but we have to grow the team to get there.
"At the moment, there are a lot of teams in this league that are way further on than we are salary-wise."
Stewart joined Sunderland two years ago this month and signed an initial contract that ran until the end of the current season, but the club has since activated an option to extend his deal until the summer of 2024. His 26 goals powered the club to promotion via the League One play-offs last season, and he currently has ten goals in 12 outings in all competitions this term - with nine of those goals coming in 11 Championship games.
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