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Lee Cattermole is desperate to stay at Sunderland and be part of the League Cup final amidst interest from Stoke City.
The Potters visit Wearside this week and Mark Hughes has publicly hinted towards an interest in the former Black Cats captain, although he has also said that he believes a deal to be very unlikely to happen.
That will suit Cattermole down to the ground, it seems. He told The Mirror:
I will definitely be a Sunderland player on Wednesday [when Sunderland are due to play Stoke]. I've heard no different and the manager has come out and said he has heard no different.
I will be back in training on Monday. I am contracted to Sunderland. They make the decisions not me. It's out of my hands. I'm contracted here for the rest of the season and another two years. It's out of my hands. Until I know any different, I will keep working.
I have got a cup final to play in - if I'm here - and that would be brilliant.
He doesn't sound all that convinced, does he. I hope he does stick around, though.
It was in the League Cup against Peterborough when the then caretaker manager Kevin Ball properly brought Cattermole back in from the cold (he had been a sub the previous week). It seems almost fitting that he sees the competition through.
Plus, his apparent replacement, Liam Bridcutt, would be cup-tied for Wembley anyway if he arrived from Brighton, so Cattermole may well have a big role to play.
There probably is a wider question to be asked regarding Cattermole and his future at the club, but the time to address that question is probably the summer, not now.
