Sunderland are preparing for their return to the Premier League next week
Kristjaan Speakman says Sunderland's potential bloated squad numbers won't impact the club's drive to recruit players for the Premier League.
Sunderland issued their retained list earlier this week, confirming that all senior players had been retained with the exception of returning loanees Chris Mepham and Salis Abdul Samed. It means that all of those who have been out on loan will be returning to the club this summer, with their current clubs opting against activating their clauses to make the switch permanent. While some such as Nectar Triantis have significant interest, Speakman has a challenge in finding new homes for others.
The sporting director says it's a natural impact of the club's relatively rapid rise from League One to the top tier and insists it won't prevent him from going out and recruiting.
"When you progress as rapidly as we have, you're going to end up with players in different categories," Speakman said.
"If you have a longer period of time, then what naturally happens is you end up with a greater number of players in a similar category i.e capable of playing at the top end of the Championship. Those who aren't maybe at that level move on naturally in time.
"So we've got players in different categories, definitely. We've got some players whose next challenge will be away from Sunderland, we've got some that we still feel have future potential and so for those players we need to find the right loan and get them minutes. The Premier League won't be the environment for that for those particular players. I think that's just part of the job, to try and get the right outcome.
"None of that would impact our Premier League squad for next season, and what we're aiming for in terms of the right number of players for us to be competitive."
Kristjaan Speakman explains Sunderland’s summer transfer strategy
Speakman earlier set out the club's transfer strategy for the summer, stressing the need to add significantly quality to the group but making clear that undue financial risks won't be taken.
"When we came to the club we had a multi-year strategy about how we'd be able to get back to the Premier League, and it's about continuing that way of thinking," Speakman said.
"We're going to make decisions that are in the best interests of the club to try and retain our position in the Premier League, while making decisions that don't negatively impact the club in the long term. I think we've seen before at Sunderland that if you don't consider those factors, how negative that can be in the long term. I don't think it's necessarily anything different in terms of our principles, but there are clearly key decisions coming up around making sure we have a squad capable of achieving our objective of staying up.
"We feel we've got loads of talented players and it's on them to come back for pre-season in the best condition possible to be able to play Premier League football, and our challenge is to then build the right balance from there. We'll obviously be signing new players into the team, to ensure that we have a Premier League that can be competitive.
"We've always advocated for a smaller squad in terms of day-to-day on the training ground. You can have a larger squad where some players are on loan to develop, but day to day we've always gone with quite a small group. Regis and I see that the same way, so we won't have an inflated squad. Having players who feel they're within touching distance of the pitch has been really important for us and that's been part of our success."
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