Sunderland have enjoyed success with their young squad so far this season

Troy Deeney has claimed that the young and exciting profile of Sunderland’s squad could become a “problem” for the Black Cats in the near future as more and more of their players are targeted for transfers away from Wearside.

Recruitment at the Stadium of Light has been hallmarked by a desire to sign emerging talent with high potential and resale value in recent seasons, and to that end, Sunderland have started to reap the benefits of their transfer blueprint by pushing for promotion with a side that includes the likes of Jobe Bellingham, Chris Rigg, Romaine Mundle, and several others.

But should the Black Cats miss out on a return to the Premier League this term, Deeney is of the opinion that the club will find it increasingly difficult to keep hold of their brightest assets.

Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: “That’s the problem with having a young squad. You probably have them for 18 months at best. I think they’re going into that spell now. I don’t think any of them would have wanted to leave in January because of the chance of getting promoted with Sunderland.

“But the likes of Jobe and Rigg will be wanted by at least 10 to 15 clubs come the summer. And I think for Sunderland, the problem there will be how you reinvest. Because once you lose those players, we just see it across the road at Middlesbrough, you lose a massive striker, the fan base expects a big striker to come in and the results to be the same. So real difficult job for them going into the summer.”

Deeney also took some time to share a story about Sunderland stalwart Luke O’Nien, who was on the books at the ex-striker’s former club Watford earlier in his career, prior to being released in 2015.

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He said: “I love telling this story because I think he’s the perfect example of working hard and squeezing all out of the orange. He was at Watford and every single day, 8am he’d be in. He’d do his gym, he’d do everything right, he’d train and they’d have to go and tell him to come in after training to eat because he’d stay out there with a bag of balls.

“He’d do the gym again, he’d wait for everyone to go, then he’d go back out with a bag of balls and it literally got to a point where management was saying at like 5 and 6pm, go home.

“He knew he wasn’t as good as everybody technically and physically, so he just worked his nuts off to make it happen, then went to Wycombe. Gets the captaincy there, then moves to Sunderland. I’m just so happy for him.”

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