Sunderland are facing a battle to hold on to Jack Colback and Phil Bardsley after both players turned down fresh contract offers from the Black Cats. The Journal can reveal fresh talks are due to be held after the Capital One Cup final with the pair, who are among four senior stars whose futures are looking increasingly uncertain on Wearside. There is interest in both players with Colback being tracked by Everton and Bardsley, for whom the club turned down two bids from Fulham during the January transfer window, being eyed by a number of Premier League suitors. Sunderland are keen to hold on to both players and had wanted to tie them down to longer contracts after the January transfer window, but so far they have been unable to agree terms with either man. Colback has become a firm favourite of boss Gus Poyet while Bardsley, who was told he could leave Sunderland in the summer, has been recalled to the Scotland squad for his excellent performances recently. The Journal understands that as of last week no discussions had taken place with Seb Larsson, who is out of contract at the end of the season, and both parties appear to have accepted Craig Gardner will depart in the summer. West Brom are interested in the midfielder but he is also on the hit-list of the trio of Midlands clubs currently battling for promotion from the Championship â with Derby, Nottingham Forest and Leicester all looking at him. The Black Cats are currently trying to plan for next season while being unaware of what division they will be playing in and whether they will have the demands of a European campaign, which will be the by-product of winning the Capital One Cup if they manage to overcome Manchester City. Poyet is understood to have told the clubâs power brokers he wants to keep both Bardsley and Colback, who have made a big impact during Sunderlandâs march to Wembley and improved league form. Both want to stay on Wearside but, with other interest in them, the club are facing competition for their signatures. The Journal understands Sunderland turned down a bid from Fulham in January for Bardsley. As Sunderland look to tie those two players down, Poyet has backed his number one Vito Mannone as he prepares to return to Arsenal this weekend. The former Gunners goalkeeper is back in North London this weekend with Sunderland, where he has established himself as a key man in Poyetâs plans. Poyet said: âHe has shown he is good enough to be a number goalkeeper in the Premier League and that is so important to us. âI have always said the goalkeeper and the strikers - and I donât know which way around - are very important roles in a team. âVery, very important roles. Those roles, if you donât have players who are the best then you become a very weak team. Vito has been exceptional.â Poyet does not want the Italian to do anything different as he returns to North London having established himself as a Premier League goalkeeper after a spell at the Emirates where appearances were few and far between. He added: âItâs difficult to say if Iâm surprised or not by how well heâs done, but it was one of the hardest decisions Iâve had to make, before the Man City game, whether to play Vito or Westy. âSometimes you make decisions and they donât go for you and you have made a massive mistake and you need to rectify it and go back. âSometimes the player proves you right and he becomes a success. Thatâs up to the player. âVito is not playing well because I put him in against Man City. âHeâs playing well because heâs doing well and heâs in a great moment. This game, for him, it should be a great day. âHe needs to take it as being a very enjoyable day rather than having something to prove, because then it would change his whole approach and feelings during the game. I hope so. âIâm trying to give it the same importance as any other game and no more than normal.â
I don't think this is anything new as such, just a rehash of old news. We all know Jack turned down the initial offer, but his main gripe seemed to be that he couldn't get a game in midfield, we also know, as Gus has said, that talks are on hold until we know which league we are in. I'm sure I heard we'd only offered Bardo a year and he wants 3, which is probably fair enough at his age. I'd imagine if we stay up and want both, they will both sign.
Decision though GC, Bardo has been immense in the recovery, but more due to his immense heart & bottle than ability. Is it certain that he'd remain first choice, or would Poyet, who will surely be financially backed if he keeps us up, more so if European football happens (an FA Cup final guarantees this nowadays, only 2 games away...), would Poyet then be looking at a higher standard of RB, in terms of quality. Well done Bardo for dragging it back, but there are limitations to his game.
very good questions, Gus has impressed with his one window so far, so one can only imagine what he will do in the summer, survival is paramount as this bloke could really take us places, if we ended up mid table and in europe would we keep bardo and jack? dunno mate coz like you say we would have plenty of dosh and a canny bit of pulling power. Would we keep Ki? Bloody exciting future if it all doesnt go to pot
I think we'd like to keep Jack, but we'd be going back to him not being guaranteed a place in midfield, I could see Gus looking abroad for a CM with a creative spark who likes running at people, and that might limit his games. We will try & keep Ki, but that may be out of our hands, and we will need a left mid/winger as Borini will return to Liverpool. I do feel Gus will have the players in mind already, he doesn't seem to tap Uruguayan players, but did take some from Spain to Brighton, so that might be where we are looking for targets.
must secure our premiership status mate, whatever happens this is a season to remember, the fact that keith lemon got the hoof shows who is boss and who has the backing of Ellis
I think this is a complete non story from a dirty black and white rag. 1 week away from the cup final and mag reporters are just stiring **** cos little old sunderlands going to wembley
I reckon not a great deal will happen with contract for anybody until we know what league we are in next season
If bardo won't sign a new deal because of the length then were being stupid. He's only 28/29? A three year deal would keep him here til he's 31/32 at which point he may be looking to more down a league. Give him the 3 years I say. Jack I don't know, I'd love him to stay but i can see that he might not want to a sign a new deal if we then get relegated. I say work your arse of now so we won't be and then sign on the dotted line
I think, like a lot of have said Jammy - this is not really a story of any kind! The journal - a paper run by black and whites where majority of the reporters are black and white, can;t stand thinking Sunderland might stay up and have a chance in the cup so they create something that is a non-story because Jack and Bardo haven't signed yet. Chances are they haven't turned anything down yet or they've just said "I'd like to wait and see where we are going to be playing next season" as both will no doubt have the option of a premier league club at some level if we go down. To keep them both we must stay up Also - having read through the whole article - the only quote from anyone to do with Sunderland is only about Vito Mannone - nothing about Colback or Bardsley. "The Journal Understands", in my experience, is short for "We want to make Sunderland turn on the players they may have an issue with" or "We don't really know but everything has been too positive about Sunderland recently"
My thoughts exactly..Just an example of jealous scum supporters, who just happen to be journalists, trying to rock the boat before our big game..
I think Bardsley should stay. Even if we sign better, both our other full backs are on loan and we need back up. He can play on either side, leaves it all out on the pitch, is defensively sound, has improved his attacking game and seems good for 3-5 goals a season. Colback is another good one to keep. Homegrown lad, versatility, works hard, still improving. I would like both on 3 year contracts. Larsson can go, and so can Gardner, Cuellar and Vaughn.
If we stay up I think they'll stay, but it's easy enough to stick a relegation clause into a new deal in the meantime. But it's the agents and the club officials who will be talking about this, not Gus and the players, so this is a bit of a non-story for me.
Black and white **** newspaper trying to rehash old news about players not signing contracts just before a Cup Final. It will be killing the bastards that we are in a final and I expect more negative articles between now and next Sunday. I urge ALL SAFC fans to stop buying the Chronicle and Journal and **** them. As for the new contracts, the league we are in will make that decision for us and thats not going to be decided until May now for sure. I want both Colback and Bardsley to stay but if it transpired they wanted to leave in the end we will survive and prosper with or without them both IMO and in all honesty both of these players will not move to bigger or better clubs than us anyway.
They can sign pre contracts though with conditions. Nowt stopping the deals being put in place. Isn't Jack only on 2k a week? He'll be trying to get a higher wage while Bards will be trying to maintain his present wage, both well within their rights and no big deal. Just part and parcel of contract negotiations. Plenty of time to strike a deal with both.
