Sunderland boss outlines stance on out-of-contract duo ahead of injury return

Sunderland have not yet begun talks with Corry Evans and Bradley Dack over their futures at the club, with interim head coach saying both are fully focused on making a successful return to senior football in the remaining eight games of the season.

The pair are expected to be named on the bench at Cardiff City after successfully completing their comebacks in U21 football over the international break, adding some very welcome experience and depth to Dodds' squad.

Both are out of contract this summer, though Sunderland do have the option of a one-year extension in the case of Dack. Dodds said he could not speak more highly of either but added that it was probably too soon to assess what would happen in the summer.

"I'm not aware of any talks on that at the moment, I think my priority and their priority is just getting back on the pitch," Dodds said.

"I'm sure it'll be at the back of their minds, of course and I'm sure it's something that the club are thinking about. But in terms of the priorities, Corry has been out for 13 months so just to be back out on the grass will be a huge sense of relief, a huge confidence boost. Same with Dacky, I think just being back on the pitch for them is the priority. I can't speak highly enough of both of them in terms of their character, but I don't know where they and the club see it [their future]."

Dodds says he will expect to have some input on all contractual decisions at the end of the season, saying that is standard practice for members of the senior coaching staff.

"I'm sure they'll ask my opinion," he said.

"There's maybe a bit of a narrative that the people at the top make the decisions and we just get told at the end of the process. I don't think that's completely the case. Don't get me wrong, any club that has a sporting director model, the whole point of that is to protect the long-term future of the club so a manager doesn't come in and bring in all the players he wants and you end up a continuous cycle of new managers, new players. etc. But since I've been here, in a number of roles, I've always been in those conversations. How much they want to listen to me is up to them, but in all those decisions, contracts, signings etc, I've been in probably three quarters of those meetings."