The firm message Sunderland boss had for Benji Kimpioka after his future was finally resolved

Kimpioka finally signed the deal offered to him by Sunderland earlier this summer, bringing an end to an impasse that had lasted over eighteen months following his first-team breakthrough in the Checkatrade Trophy.

The 20-year-old has agreed a one-year deal, with the option for a further year.

The expiration of Kimpioka’s previous deal allowed some of the club’s best prospects to stake their claim in pre-season, with Dan Neil in particular benefiting hugely from the increased game time.

Kimpioka has not featured in the senior side since November 2019 and Parkinson, who says the youngster is a ‘decent lad’, needs to concentrate entirely on impressing his manager on the training pitch.

“Benji, now, needs to let his football do the talking,” Parkinson said.

“He's got to get his head down, concentrate on training every day to see if he can push himself into the first-team picture.

“I just want him to be grounded and ultimately, when you talk to Benji one-on-one, he is. To understand that he's got a contract and it's a great honour to have a professional contract at Sunderland football club.

“Now he's got to justify the fact that we've given him that.

“Benji is a decent lad, and now he's got to concentrate on playing football.

“Nothing on social media, I don't want to see any noise surrounding him on there or anything like that, I just want to him concentrate on playing well.”

A lack of pre-season action has left Kimpioka with work to do, but Parkinson was encouraged by the youngster’s physical stats following his return to Wearside.

Kimpioka trained with his first club, IK Sirius, in Sweden as the attempts to find a resolution to his future continued.

“The positive side of it with Benji is that he has been training with a club in Sweden,” Parkinson said.

“We couldn't monitor what the intensity of that training was but equally he's come back and done a physical assessment, and he's in decent shape.

“He obviously needs games at U23 level now but I'm pleased that it's been resolved.”

Parkinson’s initial plan for Kimpioka had been to give him the pre-season period to try and force his way into his first-team contention.

Had he been unable to do so, a potential loan move would then have been explored.

Theoretically, that is still a possible scenario, but the Black Cats boss says it will be dependent on how quickly Kimpioka gets to full match fitness.

“That was our plan for Benji because I felt he was a player who probably should have gone out on loan last year, but certain situations prevented that,” he said.

“It's slightly different now because obviously, even though he's been training in Sweden and his general fitness levels are OK, we need to see where is he in terms of his match fitness and we won't see that until we have an U23 game.

“So whether the loan window comes too soon for him, we'll have to wait and see.”

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