CONFIRMED: Rejoice in the streets! Jack Rodwell departs Sunderland after contract is cancelled

Jack Rodwell’s disastrous Sunderland spell is finally over after four terrible years with the news that the club and player had come to terms over releasing the 27-year-old from his contract.

With Sunderland being relegated to League One, his wage was always going to be unsustainable despite him taking a wage cut of 40% - a move which had been put off by a year due to a clause in his contract after our relegation from the Premier League. That 40% decrease in wage from his original wage of £70,000 per week would still see the midfielder earn over £40,000 each week, far in excess of the average wage in League One of around £2,000 per week.

Signed for a fee of £10m by Gus Poyet back in 2014, Rodwell played 76 games in all competitions over his four year career at the Stadium of Light. A paltry total considering the vast sums the club invested in his services and due to how often he was either a substitute or failed to finish a game he only played 4,875 minutes for the club, which works out at 54 full games over four seasons.

Rodwell has been linked with a move to Aris Thessaloniki and a move to Major League Soccer and as no club were ever going to offer the club a transfer fee for his services, we may now see the player make a move which will see him get playing time but his Sunderland spell will go down as one of the worst transfers in the club’s history.