Phil Parkinson provides update on contract situation of key Sunderland player

McLaughlin has played a key role in the Sunderland defence keeping six clean sheets in the last seven games, a run of form which has seen the Black Cats maintain their promotion push.

An area of concern for Sunderland supporters, however, is that there are so many players out of contract this summer, McLaughlin among them.

Parkinson, speaking ahead of the trip to the Kassam Stadium on Saturday afternoon (KO 3pm), has confirmed he wants McLaughlin to stay, with Stewart Donald and Richard Hill the men responsible for contract talks at the Stadium of Light.

“Jon is someone we would like to keep,” said Parkinson.

“The chairman and Richard Hill [head of football operations] will be working on that

“He is performing well, but he has to keep his standards high, and when the chairman is ready, he will deal with that situation.

“Jon’s recent record puts him up there as one of the best in this division. He is calm, and has a lot of experience.

“At Bradford, he played in a lot of big promotion games. He played in big cup games too, and always handled the pressure well.”

After a stellar campaign last season, McLaughlin, 32, was the subject of significant interest from numerous clubs in the summer.

Donald said that Sunderland would not sell and that a new contract would be offered to the player after the transfer window closed in August.

He also claimed that the goalkeeper’s agent would have to be ‘more realistic’ when the parties returned to the table.

Then manager Jack Ross called repeatedly for his future to be secured, praising the ‘high quality, low maintenance’ performer.

Sunderland head to Oxford on the back of the 1-0 win over Ipswich Town and the comfortable 3-0 victory over Rochdale at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday evening.

The Black Cats are fifth in the third third tier ahead of the clash with play-off hopefuls Oxford United.