Sunderland handed transfer warning by Europa League qualifiers as deal decision lingers

Hibs manager David Gray has told Sunderland the Scottish Premiership club will not wait around as they look to secure Black Cats midfielder Nectar Triantis ahead of the new season.

The Australia Under-23 international has made just five senior appearances for Sunderland since moving to Wearside from Central Coast Mariners during the summer of 2023. The majority of his first-team experience has come during two separate loan spells with Hibs after initially agreeing to a temporary move to Easter Road in February 2024.

After making 14 appearances before the end of the season, Triantis returned to the Stadium of Light last summer and remained part of Regis Le Bris’ squad throughout pre-season and into the early weeks of the Championship campaign. After starting a Carabao Cup defeat at Preston North End and making a late appearance as a substitute in a home league win against Burnley, Triantis returned to Hibs and played a key role in helping Gray’s side secure third place in the Premiership and land a return to European football.

The Aussie midfielder earned rave reviews for his performances throughout his second stint with Hibs and Gray has admitted he has identified Triantis as a top target as he prepares his squad for a Europa League campaign. However, he has also stressed he would like a deal to be completed in the near future.

When asked about waiting for the Black Cats or Triantis to make a decision over the deal, the Hibs boss said: “I think it's like anything. You don't want to just be waiting around. We've got a clear plan of what we need to do. We're not just going to sit here and pin our hopes on a player deciding what he wants to do. We've made our interests very clear. Everybody's aware of that. But we're also working extremely hard to make sure we bring in quality in that position and the right type of people.

“We talk about that all the time. That work's never stopped. Nectar was clearly a loan player last season as well. We were always going to be at this point, depending on if it went well or not. I think Nectar was fantastic last season. Loads of improvement. It's always going to be something that's never going to happen overnight just purely because of how well he's done. He's going to attract a lot of interest.

“His parent club have just been promoted to the Premier League so they're going through a bit of a transition as to what their plan is going to be moving forward. For us, he's a big part of what we've done last season. When fit, he played nearly every minute of every game. He was a huge player for us last season. It's a position we know we need to look at, that defensive-minded player. The conversations and the hard work is going on to see what we can do in that position.”

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