2 transfer developments we could see emerge at Sunderland as the summer window looms

With two months of the League One season remaining, Sunderland are still in the hunt for promotion to the Championship despite a tail-off in form recently.

The Black Cats went on a run of six matches without a win, starting off with the 6-0 hammering by Bolton Wanderers which cost Lee Johnson his job, and it only ended when the Wearside club smashed second-placed Wigan Athletic 3-0 last weekend.

Considering Sunderland don’t know what league they’re going to be playing in next season, it’s going to be hard right now to plan transfer-wise for the 2022-23 campaign.

But let’s see two transfer developments that could occur the closer we get to the end of the season and the start of the summer for Alex Neil’s side.

An exodus of out of contract players?

Many Sunderland fans will believe that the club needs a real overhaul on the playing squad side of things, and a few contracts are set to expire at the end of the season.

The loans of Callum Doyle, Leon Dajaku, Rob-Thorben Hoffmann, Jack Clarke and Nathan Broadhead will all expire and so will the permanent contracts of Lynden Gooch, Lee Burge, Aiden McGeady, Patrick Roberts, Bailey Wright, Jordan Willis and Arbenit Xhemajli.

And there’s a case to be made for all of those out of contract individuals to depart the Stadium of Light when the summer arrives for a real clearing of the decks by Neil.

If it’s the Championship where Sunderland end up then it’s almost certain that all will leave, but there will be more food for thought if it’s another season in League One but there could still be an exodus.

Neil to go in for PNE players?

When it comes to next season’s recruitment, we can assume that newly-appointed manager Alex Neil will still be in charge come the summer whatever