ADAM JOHNSON thinks Paolo Di Canio will make Sunderland more threatening next season after hearing how the Italian boss plans to improve on the failings of the last nine months.

Despite claims over the weekend stating Di Canio could walk away if talks over his salary are not productive, club sources have denied the allegation and suggested it is business as usual at the Stadium of Light.

That means Di Canio, who only signed a two-and-a-half year deal in April, continues to press ahead with plans to reshape his squad and revamp the club's recruitment and coaching techniques.

After dismissing chief scout Bryan Robson recently, it emerged over the weekend that former Darlington coach Craig Liddle has now been told he will not be staying in his role as an academy boss.

Di Canio has also been strong in his criticism of attitudes and characters within the group of players he inherited from Martin O'Neill, with huge changes expected through the summer.

Johnson is not concerned about that and is keen to see a more attacking style next season, knowing such an approach is also likely to benefit him on a personal level after a frustrating first campaign on Wearside.

“Hopefully next season we'll start causing teams more problems, attacking teams higher up the pitch rather than just defending 30 games out of 38 in a season,” said the former Manchester City winger.

“It's been tough for our attacking players especially. I know we haven't created as many chances as we wanted to but I think the gaffer wants us to play more free-flowing and to be more exciting and that's something to look forward to.”

Despite being persuaded to join Sunderland by O'Neill in a £10m last August, Johnson's comments suggest he was not satisfied with the way the team were playing under the Northern Irishman.

But with so many adjustments to personnel on the horizon this summer it is difficult to imagine how Sunderland will line up next season.

Di Canio and his staff are considering a number of options at home and abroad, where there is a feeling they could get greater value for money after owner Ellis Short's only reward for investing more than £30m in the squad since last August was narrowly avoiding relegation.

Johnson said: “I don't know what the aims are for next season. I think after this season you've just got to get a good season and see where it takes us. At the beginning of this season we were saying we were going to finish here, there and everywhere but we were nowhere near it. We need to take one game at a time.”

The departure of Liddle, meanwhile, has come as a complete shock after a relatively successful first year at the Academy of Light training base.

After leaving Darlington at the end of last season, he has helped Sunderland's youngsters to the academy play-offs where they narrowly missed out on a final spot when they lost 4-3 to Fulham.

And two of his players, ex-Quaker Scott Harrison and David Ferguson, were both on the bench for Di Canio at Tottenham on the final day of the Premier League season.

Sunderland are expected to replace him by appointing from within, but news of Liddle's exit is likely to be followed by further behind-the-scenes changes.