Romaine Mundle has been linked with a January exit but made his full Premier League debut on Saturday

Régis Le Bris says Sunderland are focused on helping Romaine Mundle settle at Premier League level after his full debut against Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Mundle has had interest from a number of clubs over the course of the January transfer window, with enquiries made by clubs such as Rangers and Club Brugge amongst others. Sunderland are keen to retain Mundle, and would not sanction his departure without significant business of their own.

After Sunderland’s comeback win at the Stadium of Light, Le Bris said it was a positive that the 22-year-old was drawing admiring glances but that the club’s focus was on his development on Wearside.

“I think it's good,” Le Bris said.

“If clubs are interested by our players, it's a positive point. He has this ability with a specific profile as a winger, and I think we need to support him, challenge him sometimes, but to support him at the minute to grow in this position in the Premier League.”

Mundle has now started back-to-back games for Sunderland, having played 120 minutes in the FA Cup third round win over Everton a week previous. It represents significant progress for the winger after an injury-hit 2025, in which he suffered two significant hamstring issues. Le Bris said Mundle has done well over the last couple of weeks and has urged him to now kick on again in the weeks and months ahead.

“He's stepping up in this Premier League, his first season at this level,” Le Bris said.

“He started injured with his hamstrings, so he had to build his fitness level and his confidence.

He came off the bench three or four times, I think, before his first start in the FA Cup. He showed his quality as a winger, his ability to dribble, to combine with his teammates, and going behind to cross or to shoot. He has this quality. Now it's a question of potential. You have to transform it into reality. I think he did well today. We still have room for improvement, but he's a young lad with great potential, so we trust him.”

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Régis Le Bris reflects on Sunderland’s win over Crystal Palace

Sunderland fell behind to Crystal Palace but battled back quickly and dominated the second half, securing the three points through Brian Brobbey’s winner.

Le Bris said the performance and the win showed the growing maturity of his side.

“Every game is important, and winning in the Premier League is not easy,” Le Bris said.

“I think we have to remind ourselves how tough it is to win a game in this league. This one, I'm really pleased because it was with maturity and with quality on the pitch. We solved progressively the whole problem of the game and created chances. We might have scored even one or two more goals at the end, and it's a good three points.”

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