Alex Neil insists he is not worried about a lack of attacking options in Sunderland's run-in despite the departures of Jermain Defoe and Benji Kimpioka over the last eight days. Ex-England man Defoe announced at the end of last week that he was retiring with immediate effect, less than two months after the 39-year-old re-signed for a second spell with the Black Cats.
And late last night Sunderland allowed U23 striker Kimpioka to return to his homeland and join AIK on what was transfer deadline day in Sweden. Both Defoe and Kimpioka have been little more than bit-part players, but nevertheless it leaves Neil with just two out-and-out strikers in 22-goal leading scorer Ross Stewart, and on-loan Everton man Nathan Broadhead - the latter nearing fitness having played just once since picking up a hamstring injury before Christmas.
But Neil does have other options in Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts, who can operate as forwards, as can Lynden Gooch. "Hopefully I'm not tempting fate, but Ross isn't somebody who has been picking up a lot of injuries," said Neil.
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"He's been available for virtually all of the season and, with Broadhead coming back, they are the two centre-forwards we have but equally we have guys like Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts and other lads who can potentially play that role if need be. The way I look at it is that I have plenty of attacking options.
"Are they all centre-forwards or straight up number nines, you could argue probably not, but my job is to come up with a front line that is functional and that still offers a threat and can score enough goals to win games. I feel that with what we have currently got, without Benji and Jermain, we still have enough options to do that."
No figure has been confirmed for Kimpioka's move, but Neil says the club received 'a good fee', and given that it was unlikely the 22-year-old would have been involved in Sunderland's remaining games, and that he was out of contract in the summer and would not have been offered a new deal, it made sense for him to leave now.
"Of course I was involved in the decision," said Neil. "We were made aware [of the interest] last night, on the last day of the Swedish transfer window, but if I felt that Benji was going to contribute between now and the end of the season, we would have kept him.
"However, I thought it was highly unlikely that he would have been involved before the end of the season because I think we have better options who have shown up better.
"We got a good fee for him and I thought it made sense for us as a club to take that money because the likelihood is that, in four weeks' time, he probably wouldn't have been here. That was a discussion that I had with Benji anyway, so he was aware of that.
"I think it made sense for him to move on to pastures new and for us to take some money in to contribute to the costs that we incur in terms of everything we are trying to do."
As for Defoe, Neil revealed earlier this week that the news of his retirement came as a 'shock' as there had been no inkling of his decision when he trained at the Academy of Light last Thursday, just hours before the announcement. And he said there was no opportunity for him to try to convince the former Spurs and West Ham man to see out the season and continue to play a part in the run-in and potentially help the club achieve promotion.
Neil said: "It wasn't as straightforward as that because the discussion was more behind the scenes rather than between myself and Jermain. I was caught by surprise because it wasn't an incident where he has knocked on my door and said 'I feel as though it is maybe time for me to call it a day'.
"He trained that day, he left, and as far as I was concerned everything was fine. My relationship with Jermain has always been a good one, there was no contentiousness there in any way, shape, or form.
"But I got word through his representatives that they had spoken to the club and this was what he was thinking and this was the line he was going down. At that point, it becomes more difficult.
"If it had been face-to-face contact, then naturally my first question would have been 'why and what's brought this on?'. But it didn't really go down that way."
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