Dan Neil continues to be linked with a move away from Sunderland

Former Sunderland midfielder Lee Cattermole has admitted that he would be “gutted” to see Dan Neil leave the club amid ongoing speculation over his future on Wearside.

The 24-year-old is out of contract with his boyhood club at the end of the season, and has struggled for game time this term, registering just 13 minutes of Premier League action at the time of writing.

As a consequence, speculation has started to mount over the prospect of an exit from the Stadium of Light, with the likes of Coventry City, Rangers, and Bundesliga outfit FC Koln all touted as admirers.

But while Neil’s departure feels like an ever-increasing inevitability, Cattermole has suggested that he would have liked to have seen the Academy of Light graduate afforded more of an opportunity to prove himself in the top flight this term.

What has Lee Cattermole said about Sunderland midfielder Dan Neil?

Speaking on BBC Radio Newcastle’s Total Sport, Cattermole said: “I think he'd probably have been expecting to get a start at some point, especially since the AFCON and how many players we were going to lose... The speculation's there. I believe he needs to be playing football at his age. I think he's had such a good run. He's obviously captained the club over the last couple of seasons to great achievements.

“If he does leave, I'll be gutted he hasn't had a chance to show himself because people write people off before they've even kicked the ball. I think that's wrong. He would have been going into a good team alongside a really, really experienced, good player [Granit Xhaka]. I'd just love to have seen him get his opportunity because I think he deserves it.”

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Reflecting on Xhaka’s influence on Neil, he added: “He'll learn so much even in training. You look at Xhaka's positioning and how he takes up positions when he receives the ball. You'll always see a square around him - he's always positioned himself in the middle of that square between their attackers and his midfield players. Dan will have been picking his brains in training, working out where to position himself, in and out of possession.

“If his opportunity comes, he can have that impact. I was at a night the other week before Christmas, an ex-players' night, and Kristjaan [Speakman] spoke. He said something about Dan Ballard - he said he'd found it easier going into the Premier League than he had playing in the Championship. Who's to say that couldn't have happened to Dan [Neil]? He's technically very gifted and he sees the game well. You just don't know.

“The disappointment would be that he hasn't had the opportunity coming through as a homegrown player. I hope it's not this thing we keep seeing where there's an asset there, isn't there? There's an asset with Dan in terms of valuation. It probably hasn't cost the club much. I hope we don't see this now with these homegrown players who always keep getting moved on.”

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