Kristjaan Speakman confirms contract talks with key Sunderland duo 'definitely' now on his radar
Sunderland will look to secure two key players to new deals in the weeks and months ahead
Kristjaan Speakman has confirmed that Sunderland will look to step up contract talks with Dan Neil and Dennis Cirkin now that the transfer window is closed.
It has been another positive summer in retaining their young talent, with Dan Ballard, Chris Rigg and Jobe Bellingham all committing to new deals. However, Speakman and the Sunderland hierarchy did sanction the departure of Jack Clarke as he entered the final two years of his contract with no renewal deemed likely.
The Black Cats have few players out of contract next summer and so sit currently in a position of strength, but Neil and Cirkin’s current deals both expire the at the end of the 2025/26 campaign. Neil rejected an initial contract offer earlier this summer amid uncertainty of the club’s then unresolved head coach search, but the club have always maintained that dialogue was ongoing.
“It’s [contracts for Neil and Cirkin] definitely on our radar,” Speakman said.
“The thing with contracts is that you get some complete, and then there’s always other ones that start moving closer. It’s a little bit like painting the Forth Bridge in that respect. It’s a constant piece of work, and we’ve always tried to be on the front foot with that element of things.
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“I think to get a Ballard, a Jobe and a Chris Rigg recommitted to the club was incredible for us considering their value to the team and performance level, and also their value from a financial perspective. We were really pleased that those boys felt they were comfortable committing themselves here. It’s a journey we continue to go on through, and we want to retain our best talent. I’ve said before that retaining talent is often harder than acquiring fresh talent, but we’ll continue to trying to do that and trying to make sure we keep ourselves in a really positive place with our squad composition.”
Patrick Roberts and Luke O’Nien are the other senior players who see their contract expire in summer 2026, but in both cases the club retain the option to extend automatically for another year.