At least give us a few days to gather ourselves, lads. With the wounds of Jobe Bellingham’s departure for Borussia Dortmund still yet to scab, already reports are emerging that another key Sunderland player is being targeted by an illustrious continental suitor.
The club in question is AS Roma, and if a series of recent mutterings from Italy are to be believed, then they have their eye firmly fixed on Black Cats skipper Dan Neil. As was the case with Bellingham and Dortmund, these are rumors that have reared their unwelcome head before, and the concern from a Mackem perspective is that they are seemingly showing no intent of going away any time soon either.
And of all the Sunderland stalwarts that Roma could be looking at, Neil is perhaps the most worrying prospective target of all. The reasons for this are essentially two-fold.
In the first instance, Neil is a vital presence at the base of Sunderland’s midfield. Not only does he sport the captain’s armband, but his ability to play on the half turn and his range of distribution afford him a metronomic quality—he is a conductor of sorts, a dictator of tempo, and a conduit through which so much of the Black Cats’ best work travels. Defensively, he is anticipatory and disruptive in all the right ways too; over the course of the 2024/25 campaign, the 23-year-old regained possession 265 times—the third-most of any player in the Championship.
Secondly, and perhaps more alarming still, Neil is one of just two Sunderland first-team regulars—alongside Dennis Cirkin—who is not tied down to a lengthy and relatively stable contract. As things stand, the midfielder’s stay on Wearside is scheduled to come to an end next summer, and as a consequence, the potential for a sale this year cannot be entirely ruled out.
Now, to Sunderland’s credit, they are evidently aware of how precarious Neil’s current situation is, and it is not a conversation that they have shied away from in the recent past. Speaking earlier in the campaign, sporting director Kristjaan Speakman even went as far as to explain that talks over a new deal had been put on hold while Neil and his teammates focused on their simmering promotion push.
As of last week, the transfer chief was still stating that reopening those negotiations was still very much on Sunderland’s agenda. He said, “We do a contract review right across the group at the end of every season. I think we’re in a strong position with the majority of the group this time around, especially with a lot of the players who have performed at a really high level. There are a couple there whose contracts are reducing, and we need to have a conversation around that, and that will happen in the coming weeks. That’s part of trying to build the squad for next season.”
But if the need to agree on an extension with Neil was pressing before, then Roma’s pesky admiration now renders it borderline paramount. Sunderland must be commended for the manner in which they have protected themselves with regard to so many of their prized assets, but the skipper’s looming contract expiration remains a notable chink in their armor, and the sooner it is addressed, the better.
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