Sunderland owner gives damning update on the futures of current players - how many want to stay?

Sunderland owner Stewart Donald has today admitted that very few of the current squad want to stay to be part of the club’s plans next season.

In a post from his Twitter account, Donald replied to a fan asking about rumours regarding the players that he has inherited, suggesting that not many of them are interesting in sticking about to get us out of the mess they got us into when achieving back-to-back relegations in consecutive seasons.

It is Roker Report’s understanding that just ONE first team player has made it clear to the club that they want to stay - and that is young central midfielder Ethan Robson.

Everyone else is either grumbling, undecided, or has asked to leave - although the club are yet to hold full, lengthy discussions with each and every player as some of them are still away on holidays, so it’s likely that some may be persuaded to stay or will state their intention to stick around once they’ve met the new owners and Jack Ross and have listened to their plans for the club going forward.

Donald and his fellow owner Charlie Methven have made no secret about just how tough a job they have on their hands with restructuring us on the pitch, and it’s expected that as many as fifteen players could arrive this summer.

On top of that they have to resolve the futures of several players, and with almost all of their first-team squad refusing to commit to the club it only increases the scale of the task that they have on their hands currently.

One other thing they have made very clear, though, is that they won’t allow players, clubs or agents to take advantage of our position, and they’ll only allow players to leave if they receive suitable offers for them.

The new owners are more than capable of paying Sunderland’s inflated wage bill and have made this very clear to dissenters amongst the squad who feel that they should be allowed to leave the club on the cheap.