Luke O’Nien has made his Sunderland future clear after the club sealed Europa League qualification
Luke O’Nien insists he has no intention of leaving Sunderland after the club secured Europa League qualification, joking that the next step is to reach the Champions League.
Sunderland’s remarkable season has ended with European football secured, adding another extraordinary chapter to the club’s rise under Régis Le Bris. It also raises an obvious question heading into the summer: how important will qualification be in terms of keeping the current squad together?
For O’Nien, there was no hesitation. Asked whether he had started thinking about next season, O’Nien said: “Yeah, let's go win it and get to the Champions League, why not? We've got the boys, obviously, off to the World Cup, and I can't believe I'm playing with World Cup players.
“Sometimes that's a pinch me moment, and yeah, I can't wait for it. I've got some play areas to chase with the kids, I've got a few travels with them, and I'm looking forward to just being with my family, and my little girl keeps asking if I have got tomorrow off, and when are you going to get the day off? She's going to plan the itinerary for the next couple of weeks, and I'm just going to be dad, enjoy that, enjoy what we've achieved, and then don't get me wrong, when the time's to work, we're going to get working.”
O’Nien has been central to Sunderland’s rise in recent years, both on the pitch and inside the dressing room. Having been part of the club’s League One promotion, Championship play-off success and now a Premier League campaign that has ended with European qualification, the defender remains one of the clearest voices of the group.
Asked how important Europe could be in keeping Sunderland’s squad together and whether players could still leave, O’Nien replied: “I'm certainly not. Never was. “Yeah, it's massive. Look at the play-off game when Ballard scored, Tommy and Eli scored, the knock-on effect of that, look where we are now. Still can't believe we signed them. That's the knock-on effect of winning that game, and you don't know what the knock-on effect of this game is, but I'm sure it's going to be special.
“We've got a really good group, I'm sure we're going to add to it, and it's important that the group now, we've created a culture, and we're going to make sure that people come in. It's a good culture to be in, we've got to keep that level, we've got to raise it again, and make sure that the people that join, they understand what this place is, what we're trying to do here, and we've just got to keep making it even better.”
O’Nien’s answer was another clear sign of the belief now running through Sunderland’s dressing room. European qualification will inevitably shape the club’s summer, both in terms of who they can attract and who they can keep, but one of Sunderland’s longest-serving players - and one of the most influential figures of the modern era - has already made his own stance clear.
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