Kristjaan Speakman confirms Alex Pritchard decision in update on Sunderland midfielder's future

Sunderland have offered Alex Pritchard an extension to his current contract, Kristjaan Speakman has confirmed.

Pritchard's future has been the subject of intense speculation throughout the January window, with his current contract now in its final six months and having nearly left the club on deadline day last summer. The attacking midfielder has gone on to become a central player in Michael Beale's plans, and the club's sporting director has hinted that they are not minded to let him go in this current window.

That could of course change should Pritchard receive a better offer from elsewhere. His current importance to the side has been heightened by injuries to Bradley Dack and Patrick Roberts.

“From my perspective, Alex has been an absolutely integral part of getting us to where we are in the Championship, in a really good position," Speakman said.

"He’s a really important player for the group, and I’m really pleased that he’s got back in the team. He wasn’t in the team for a little bit, but he’s back in the team now. His contract is up at the end of the season. With every player, there’s questions about whether they will be staying or going in every window because we’ve got top players.

"From Alex’s perspective, we’ve made the decision more recently to offer him an extension to his contract. We wouldn’t normally do that because we’d normally do that as part of our succession planning somewhere around March or April time. But we just felt that in conversations with him, that was something we probably needed to do because of the situation and where his head was at more than anything. I think that’s the right thing for the football club to do, and he is in a really good position. He’s in the team, and I’m sure he’s happy.”

Pritchard has interest from the MLS and Turkey, while former Sunderland head coach Tony Mowbray is known to be keen on bringing him back to Birmingham City if he becomes available at some stage.