Sunderland heading for big disaster over £2.7k-p/w gem who's "a dream for any manager" - opinion

Sunderland must do all that they can to keep Ross Stewart at the club in the summer.

The Scottish striker is the Black Cats’ top scorer this season and has been vital in their push to get promoted scoring 22 goals and assisting four in 44 appearances.

He also leads the race for the Golden Boot in League One so it’s likely that come next season he will want to be playing at a higher level.

There has been interest from a number of clubs in the Championship as well as Premier League relegation strugglers Norwich City.

Sunderland are ‘down to the bare bones’ when it comes to their firepower up front, with Jermain Defoe recently announcing his immediate retirement having only joined the club back in January.

Former star striker Kevin Phillips has urged manager Alex Neil to wrap Stewart “in cotton wool” because an injury to him between now and the end of the season could be disastrous.

But it’s beyond then that the Black Cats should be worrying about, if they fail to get promoted it makes it even more likely they’ll lose their £2.7k-per-week star man and he would be difficult to replace.

As well as his great goal scoring record he has also proved to be reliable having tallied the most minutes on the pitch out of all the forwards in the whole of League One with 3,544.

The 25-year old also isn’t afraid to track back, he ranks inside the top ten for aerial duals won averaging 5.6 per game which includes when defending set-pieces.

Sunderland must try their hardest to keep Stewart at the Stadium of Light but he could be tempted by Premier League strugglers Norwich.

The Canaries may get relegated, but even so, they would still be one of the top sides in the Championship as history shows.

Stewart is under contract for another season