Timescale of Sunderland contract decisions for trio revealed | OneFootball

Sunderland are expected to make decisions on the futures of Callum Styles, Corry Evans and Bradley Dack in the next week, according to The Northern Echo.

The Black Cats endured a disappointing finish to the 2023/24 campaign. They reached the play-offs last term but ended this season in 16th after a downturn in fortunes under Michael Beale and then interim boss Mike Dodds.

Not only have their league performances been below standards, but who the next head coach will be, almost three months on from Beale's sacking, is still not known.

There are some candidates who are said to be near the top of the list, including Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Röhl, Bayern Munich under-19s boss Rene Maric, or Stade Reims coach Will Still, as per the Northern Echo.

The first of that considered trio is now looking less and less likely to move away from Hillsborough after news that he held positive talks with the Wednesday hierarchy came out.

Sunderland will also have to contend with their retained/released list; who will stay and who will go. An update on the futures of the three players are expected to be known soon.

Sunderland trio to learn fate in the next week

The senior trio of Callum Styles, Corry Evans and Bradley Dack are going to know whether they will be Sunderland players next season within the next seven days, according to the Northern Echo.

The club also have some players out on loan who are set to be out of contract upon their return to the Stadium of Light, and decisions on their futures will be made too.

While there will be no head coach to help make these choices, Dodds, who is set to return to his former coaching role, and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman will be the ones to make the calls, as per the Northern Echo.

Dodds said, via the Northern Echo: "There are meetings planned. There’ll be conversations over the next few days that will resolve a number of things.

"We’ve got some players who have been out on loan that will be coming back to the football club, and we need to have a bit of a touchpoint with them in terms of their reflections and the feedback we’ve had from those clubs.

"We’ve got individual meetings planned with a number of players in terms of giving them individual feedback, which I think is really important.

I’ve said that I have to learn from this process to move forward, I think the club have to learn from what’s happened, and the players have to learn too.

“I’ve got meetings planned with all the players individually. I’ve had some already, and I’ve got more scheduled for (this) week, which will be individual feedback on where they’ve been in terms of their performance on the pitch and where they’ve been in terms of their performance off the pitch too.

"I want to make sure they’re really clear on the expectations for next season."

The club have the option to make Styles stay permanent, as was agreed in the January deal that Sunderland struck with Barnsley to bring him further north.

Club captain Evans and Dack have had limited impacts this season, and their futures hang in the balance.

Sunderland need to get head coach business sorted soon

It's well known that the way the club operates, on the player recruitment side of things, under Speakman and chairman Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, isn't one that heavily involves the head coach.

They just want whoever that person is to come in and manage the players that they are given to work with.

That's fine and all, but what if their new boss wanted a player like Styles, Dack or Evans, and then they end up getting released?

Having that touchpoint with the person that is going to lead your team is so important, but it appears to not be something that is not that valued by the likes of Speakman and Louis-Dreyfus.

There has to be some connection between the dressing room and the boardroom, but, to even attempt to have that, there has to be someone in the head coach's office.