Kristjaan Speakman sends strong transfer message after rejecting deadline-day bids for academy prospect

Kristjaan Speakman says a deadline-day bid for talented youngster Tommy Watson was just another example of Sunderland standing firm in their bid to retain their best young talent.

Watson was the subject of interest from Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion, but the Black Cats were not interested in doing a deal. Sunderland's sporting director admits that Watson faces a challenge to fight his way into a team performing so well but says the club have huge belief in his future potential.

“Tommy is a young player that we have high hopes for," Speakman said.

"He’s right on the fringes of the team, and we’re really hopefully that he can try to get some minutes this year, although it’s going to be more difficult than ever because the team is performing at a higher level than ever. But he will be supported and we will keep trying to find those opportunities for him. It’s flattering when Premier League clubs are making bids on your players. But is it an easy thing to decline? Yes, because that’s where the club’s at and that’s the position the club is adopting. We’re in a really, strong healthy position where it’s not really a big topic of conversation because the type of value that you’re talking about [with the Watson bid], we value the players higher than that and believe in the players more. For us, it’s really easy to be able to side-step those."

While Jack Clarke was sold to Ipswich Town, the club turned down bids for a number of players and convinced Chris Rigg, Jobe Bellingham and Dan Ballard to sign new deals. Speakman believes that should give fans confidence about the trajectory of the club.

“We’ve turned down bids throughout the course of the window," he said.

"I think there’s probably six, seven, maybe even eight players that we were receiving bids and interest on, and where we could quite easily have accepted significant fees. But we’ve chosen not to do that, which I just think shows where the ownership’s heads are at, and where we’re at as a football club. Hopefully, with the team at the minute, we’re on the up.

“I don’t think we’re trying to make a statement by rejecting bids – I think we’re trying to run a sustainable football club," he added.

"We’re trying to stick to our strategy, and we’re trying to stick to our values and beliefs about how the football club should be run. We’ve always said that our strategy is not a player-trading strategy – our strategy is trying to build, develop and grow a football club. A byproduct of that is that there will be times where you lose players. You’ll lose a Ross Stewart because a time will come where the stars align and that’s the right decision. It’s the same with a Jack Clarke. But on the other 97 per cent of players, we’re committed, we’re turning down bids, we’re restructuring contracts and we’re retaining those players. Through those mechanisms, the team becomes stronger and the club becomes stronger. I’d be surprised if there is another club in the Championship, outside of a relegated club, that’s got a stronger or more valuable group than we’ve got, which considering where we picked the club up at four years ago, is really pleasing. Hopefully, that gives a lot of joy and a lot of comfort to supporters.”