SUNDERLAND striker Kevin Phillips' future on Wearside is in the balance.

The club's post-war record goalscorer appeared to wave goodbye to the Stadium of Light faithful when he was substituted in the 3-0 defeat to Manchester City on Monday.

And Sunderland boss Howard Wilkinson is set to hold talks with his star striker to try to dispel rumours that Phillips is set to hand in a transfer request.

It has been feared the striker's agent is preparing to circulate the player's name around top clubs when the transfer window opens in January.

Tottenham, Leeds and Arsenal have all shown an interest in Phillips before and all three are likely to be monitoring the situation closely.

But a source close to the player suggested any move away from the Black Cats would be a wrench.

The source said: "Of course Kevin Phillips is not happy at the moment.

"He is not happy because he is not scoring goals and he is not happy with the results.

"He is also not happy with the way the team is performing but he has still got a tremendous affinity with the fans at Sunderland."

The shock news of a possible switch follows the 29-year-old's shot-shy start to the current campaign - he has only scored once in 12 games so far.

But highly-rated Phillips' form has largely been down to the poor service being provided by his Sunderland teammates - in a season which has seen the side drop to second from bottom in the Premiership.

And after Monday night's depressing defeat at the hands of Kevin Keegan's City side, Sunderland boss Wilkinson hinted: "At the moment what we can't afford is too many egos around the place."

And Wilkinson then revealed he was planning to make unpopular decisions in a bid to help Sunderland preserve their top-flight status.

"I know that I will have to go in and deal with it in the way that the players and the public deserve it to be dealt with," said the former Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds chief.

"To do that I have got to make sure I stay strong and make the right decisions. Those might not be the most popular ones."

Wilkinson was told by Sunderland that he had no money to spend on new players when he took over the reins at the Stadium of Light in October.

Former Sunderland boss Peter Reid splashed £10m on Tore Andre Flo and Marcus Stewart just weeks before departing the hot-seat - leaving the transfer kitty bare for the new man at the helm.

And Wilkinson knows if he wants to bring in new blood then he will have to sell a few members of his under-achieving squad first.

Phillips is by far Sunderland's prize asset, and he could still command a fee of around £8m, although his price has depreciated somewhat since being valued at around £12m just last season.

Phillips has rarely had a chance in front of goal since finding the net, for the first and only time this season, against Tottenham on November 10.

The former England international, who has eight caps to his name, has only been a peripheral figure in Sunderland's last four matches - against Liverpool, Birmingham, Chelsea and Man City.

And he was replaced - along with club record signing Flo and club skipper Michael Gray - with 66 minutes gone against the Maine Road outfit two days ago

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