Cracking interview with him in the online media this morning: STEED Malbranque wants to be dealt into the Sunderland striker mix next season, and secure a long-term future at the Stadium of Light in the process. The French forward, one of the best-paid players at the club, is out of contract at the end of the season and has still not heard anything from the Black Cats about a potential extension offer. That has jacked up speculation about his future and he has been linked with a steady stream of Sunderlandâs Premier League rivals during the summer, including Fulham and QPR. But in a rare interview from the Wearsidersâ Barsinghausen training base, Malbranque said he had no intention of leaving the club before the summer transfer window closes. He also revealed his intention to battle it out with Ji Dong-Won, Connor Wickham, Asamoah Gyan and Stéphane Sessegnon for a forward role. âI am very happy at Sunderland â I do not want to leave this club,â he told The Journal. âI want to stay and fight for my place, I have no interest in leaving and I would like to stay longer if possible. âThe club has moved forward in every year that I have been here and we have done it again. With the new players that we have at the club we can target European football next year. âThe club keeps progressing every year and I like that â I want to be part of it and I want to be part of Sunderlandâs future. I want to be part of the squad, I have never asked to leave and I wonât.â Malbranque has looked sharp during Sunderlandâs tough training programme in Germany and has featured in all three pre-season games so far. Used mainly off the shoulder of a bigger striker like Ji or Wickham, he is one of the most naturally gifted players at Bruceâs disposal. But a woeful scoring record â he has netted just once in 102 League appearances for Sunderland â needs to be addressed if he is to make a strikerâs place his own. Malbranque hopes that is possible, although the 31-year-old is willing to play anywhere if it secures him a place in Bruceâs plans. âMy preferred position is to play in behind the one striker, or as part of two strikers,â he said. âOf course I will play on the left or the right of midfield too. âI will play anywhere going forward, but it is up to the manager to make the decision on whether I will start in games or not. âI hope to play a run of games and, no matter where I play, I will give my best for the team. I will give the most I can, I want to start scoring goals too.â Sunderland have one game remaining of their German tour, taking on Borussia Mönchengladbach tomorrow and Bruce has toned down the intensive training schedule to make sure that his squad stay healthy. Titus Bramble and Michael Turner are touch and go with regards to the weekend match, while Wes Brown, Keiren Westwood and Gyan will not play until Wednesdayâs trip to Kilmarnock. The standard of opposition has proved taxing for the Black Cats, who are yet to win out here. But Malbranque, like his manager, can see other benefits to being together for a prolonged period of time. âI think it is too early to talk too much about how successful pre-season has been, but we have worked hard to be ready for the first game,â he said. âIt is a good thing to do to come out to Germany. To have everyone together for a week â especially for the new players â is a good thing.â http://www.journallive.co.uk/safc/s...s-safc-ace-steed-malbranque-61634-29099300/2/ Not sure what Bruce's plans for him are, but his attitude is spot on. He has his work cut out to prove his worth IMO, as his final ball has been poor. Cant remember if he has ever put a shot on target, or a decent cross. In any case, he deserves his chance just for his attitude if nothing else.
Yes this is a great attitude and probably he is more naturally gifted than any of the old and new midfielders...but...he does not score and that makes some of the more less talented but likely to a goal players to be ahead of him in the pecking order. Football is at heart a simple game, you stop the oppo scoring and you score yourself..Steed needs goals and unfortunately he had loads of chances last season and failed to convert
great player is steed, hope he stays and gets a new contract, if he could score goals he'd be worth a fortune even at his age
Totally agree, the one that stuck in my mind last season was Man Utd at home when he went clean through. Been one of my fav players for some time and i can recall many times seeing him bang them in for Fulham but Id of had more faith with my signature buddy Chris Makin scoring against Van Der Sar then Steed! A more cynical man would say of course he wants to stay with being one of the best paid players at the club but i wudnt agree. Great guy, hard worker, skillful player and great servant for the club. Model pro and wudnt be adverse to seeing him stay on a few more years and possibly a coaching role?
Aye know what u mean, guess he shudnt preach about diet and nutritian either, dont want him coughing his lungs up over the youngsters due to his debilitating 60 a day prior habit! His finishing is woeful since hes been with us like, I have a theory that Steed should be restricted like one of those players in netball that can only move between a certain area of the pitch!
I like Steed and his work-rate and attitude is second to none. Even if he carnt be guranteed a first team role i think he would be a perfect player to bring on for the last 30mins and cause problems. I think it shows how far the club has come to be considering not giving a player like steed a new contract or talking about him as a player on the bench.
Think someone has slipped something into one of his ***s, if he thinks he gonna be a striker now... Technically very gifted, but sadly, to be a striker you have to be able to do the one thing which Steed can't, hit the target He's got a battle on to get a midfield role, so he needn't worry himself about trying for a forwards role aswell.
Keep him, great impact player and that sort of attitude will rub off on the younger and newer members of the squad.
Sorry but im on the other side on this one, he's just not good enough for us anymore. He can't last the full game, doesn't create much and can't score in a brothel. Thanks bug goodbye steed.
Dosnt create much.....!? Is that an actuall joke or are you thinking of a different player? He's the most creative player we have!
No - I would keep him as a squad player and make him earn his way into the team - I'm with those who say he creates openings, he does - sometimes it looks like he's got glue on his boots ffs, then he draws defenders FFS of course he's good. I don't think he'll get a forward role and he's not good enough to be among our most highly paid either.
The man never gives the ball away, I even feel sorry for him at times because players are not on the same wavelengh as him so they don't make the runs, not to mention his workrate, 100% every game and for his size wins alot of takles I would be upset if we let him go.
That's fair enough, and we do need to get some big name players to move on, but steed would fit in perfect with them.
tend to agree to a point but i love the guy lol His goal tally is poor considering he was once one of the top scorers at Fulham
