SUNDERLAND remain confident of being able to reach an agreement with Dan Neil despite an initial round of contract talks with the midfielder having broken down.

Neil and his representatives have held discussions with senior Sunderland officials over a potential new long-term contract at the Stadium of Light.

While Neil still has just over two years of his current deal to run, the Black Cats hierarchy would ideally like to tie down the 22-year-old to a longer-term agreement.

However, the talks have ended without a successful resolution, with Neil understood to want to wait to see how things develop under a new head coach before committing to a lengthy new deal.

Sunderland have held similarly unsuccessful talks with Jack Clarke, another player whose current deal is due to expire in the summer of 2026.

Both Neil and Clarke have been the subject of outside interest in the last year or so, with the former having been linked with a number of Premier League clubs after a successful year in the Championship.

The Wearsider started 42 of Sunderland’s 46 Championship matches and is regarded as an integral part of the club’s future plans, hence the desire to remove any uncertainty over his contractual position.

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However, while there is an understandable degree of disappointment at the breakdown of initial talks, Sunderland’s ownership group are unconcerned about Neil’s position.

While there has been talk of a potential bid for the academy product this summer, with Leicester City known to hold a long-term interest, there has been no indication of a formal approach and sources privately express doubt about whether one will arrive.

Even if there is an offer for Neil, it will take an extremely large bid to make Sunderland even consider selling such an influential performer, with the fact the midfielder still has two years of his current deal to run ensuring the Black Cats are in a strong position.

Further talks are planned with Neil and his negotiating team, although they will not take place until Sunderland’s head-coach situation is resolved.

Regardless of the club’s confidence that a deal will eventually be done, the public revelation of the breakdown of initial talks nevertheless throws more unwelcome focus on the ongoing search for a new boss.

It is now almost four months since Michael Beale was dismissed, yet despite holding talks with a host of potential candidates, Sunderland are still to appoint a permanent successor.

Approaches to Will Still and Pascal Jansen have failed to result in an appointment, and while Liam Rosenior is now regarded as the favourite to take over at the Stadium of Light, he has also been linked with the managerial vacancy at Burnley in the last few days.

Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is understood to have held talks with Rosenior, but those discussions have not yet resulted in a formal agreement.

Louis-Dreyfus released a statement at the end of last week claiming that an appointment was “imminent”, but that was before the Sunderland chairman opted to end his interest in Jansen.

As was the case with Still, the failure to complete a deal with Jansen has forced something of a rethink, with Rene Maric still regarded as a potential candidate despite Bayern Munich’s continued insistence that they want him to remain in Germany as part of Vincent Kompany’s new-look backroom team.

Sunderland’s ownership group also hold a long-standing interest in QPR boss Marti Cifuentes, who was initially considered as a potential candidate prior to the appointment of Beale last autumn. However, with QPR adamant they do not want to lose their current boss, a pursuit of Cifuentes would almost certainly be a costly and drawn-out process.