Marc McNulty makes a candid admission over his Sunderland exit and Phil Parkinson's parting message

Marc McNulty has revealed that Phil Parkinson wanted to keep him at Sunderland beyond January – after he sealed a return to Scotland.
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McNulty saw his loan spell at the Stadium of Light cut-short last week, and he subsequently penned a temporary move to Hibernian – reuniting him with Jack Ross, who signed the striker for Sunderland.

And the Scottish international has claimed that Parkinson told him that he didn’t want him to leave the club in January, as Sunderland look to continue their battle for promotion from League One.

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While McNulty admits it was tempting to stay on Wearside and continue working with the ‘brilliant’ Parkinson, he felt the opportunity to return to Easter Road and play regular football was too tempting to turn down.

Marc McNultyMarc McNulty
Marc McNulty

"It was a bit of a nightmare," he joked, when quizzed on how it felt waiting for the move to go through.

"It was quite difficult because the Sunderland manager wanted to keep me, and it's hard leaving a club like that.

"It's a massive club and you want to play for big clubs. There was a chance of a potential promotion on my CV, but you want to play and be involved in a team.

"He was brilliant to be fair - except for not playing me!"

McNulty made his second debut for Hibernian on Sunday, coming off the bench during their 2-2 draw with St Mirren. He could feature this evening when they take on title contenders Rangers.