JULIO ARCA feels Sunderland's promotion to the Premiership has justified his decision to sign a new contract and he is happy there will be no fresh doubts about his future surfacing in the summer.

Ever since Sunderland dropped into the Football League two years ago the 24-year-old was regularly linked with a move away from the Stadium of Light.

Celtic, Liverpool and even North-East rivals Newcastle were mentioned as possible destinations but Arca pledged his future to his beloved English club by signing a new two-year contract in November.

Now, after Sunderland secured their place back among the elite as champions of the Championship by defeating West Ham last Friday night, the left-winger only has eyes on turning the Black Cats into a Premiership force again.

The £3.5m signing from Argentinos Juniors five years ago has become a huge favourite on Wearside and never wanted to move on, highlighted by him signing a new deal before Christmas.

And Arca insists it was his belief that a return to the top-flight was on the cards that convinced him to put pen to paper on new terms.

"Maybe if we hadn't got promoted then I might have had to think about things again," said Arca.

"I can't say anything for certain now because we have gone up and I will be here playing in the Premier League next season.

"It's great to know that I will be back in the Premier League with Sunderland and it's also good to know I'll be playing at a club I love.

"When I signed my new contract I said it was because this club could get back into the Premiership this season. Maybe I was lucky that it came true but I'm glad we did and I knew we could do it."

After arriving from South America as a Peter Reid buy, Arca played three seasons in the Premiership and felt the disappointment of relegation in 2003 as hard as the supporters.

But winning the Championship title has gone quite a way to making amends for the frustration the whole club felt in their final top-flight days and he is looking forward to Sunday's finale.

Sunderland will parade the trophy in front of a packed 48,000 Stadium of Light crowd when Stoke City are the visitors.

And Arca, with nine goals to his name this season, said: "The happiness was to get promoted but to go down to West Ham and win on Friday night made that happiness even stronger.

"It's nice to know that we can go into Sunday's game with the trophy already assured and to win that is special. The fans have been great to me ever since I arrived and to win the Championship is fantastic because they will remember this forever.

"They have been waiting a long time for this club to be back in the Premier League and they deserve to enjoy themselves on Sunday. It's not just about the players and fans though, the whole staff deserve to celebrate this because this club deserves to be back in the Premier League."

Thomas Myhre has failed to recover in time to face Stoke and teenager Ben Alnwick will continue to deputise. Myhre is out of contract in the summer and is due to thrash out his future after Monday's Civic Parade with the Championship trophy.