Alex Neil delivers his verdict on Sunderland's Benji Kimpioka transfer decision - and his remaining striking options

Sunderland's head coach said he sanctioned the departure, with the 22-year-old joining AIK Fotboll in the Swedish top tier.

Kimpioka scored in his last senior appearance for the club, a 5-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in December last year, but has not featured under Neil.

Despite Jermain Defoe's surprise retirement last week, Neil candidly admitted that he did not see that changing between now and the end of the season.

Kimpioka's contract on Wearside was due to expire this summer.

"I was involved in the decision," Neil said.

"We were made aware of the interest and obviously yesterday was the last day of the Swedish transfer window.

"If I felt as if Benji was going to contribute between now and the end of the season, we would have kept him.

"However, I think it was highly unlikely that we was going to be because at this moment in time, I think we've got better options who have shown up better.

"We got a good fee for him, and I felt it made good sense for us as a club to take that money because the likelihood is, he probably wouldn't have been with us in four weeks time.

"I'd already had that discussion with Benji anyway so he was aware of that, and so I felt it made sense for him to move onto pastures new and for us to take some money in."

Neil confirmed that Ross Stewart had returned from international duty with Scotland injury free, while Nathan Broadhead offered a major boost by returning to training this week.

While his outright striking options may be limited, Neil said he felt he had enough and depth in forward areas generally to cope between now and the end of the campaign.

"I don't want to tempt fate but Ross hasn't been one to pick up injuries, he's been available for nearly all of the season," Neil said.

"Nathan Broadhead is coming back, so those are arguably the two centre forwards that we do have.

"Equally, we've got guys like Jack Clarke and Patrick Roberts, and other lads who could potentially do that role if needs be.

"The way I look at it is that I've got plenty of attacking options. Are they all number nines or outright centre forwards? Probably not, but my job is to come up with a frontline that is functional, carries a threat and scores the goals to win us games.

"I feel with the options we've currently got, even without Benji, we've still got enough options to go and do that."

Neil admitted that he had been unaware that Defoe was weighing up the prospect of bringing his second spell at the club to an early end, and said his increasing game time over recent weeks meant his departure undoubtedly ‘left a gap’.

However, he went on to add: “There’s no point talking about whether it could have been this or it could have been that because we are where we are, and he’s made his decision.

"We just need to crack on and get on with the games that are remaining now.”

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