KRISTJAAN SPEAKMAN has revealed that Sunderland rejected bids and approaches for “seven or eight” of their players during the summer transfer window.

The Black Cats made one high-profile sale this summer, with Jack Clarke joining Ipswich Town in a deal that could potentially be worth around £20m, but Speakman claims the club held firm over a number of their other star performers.

The likes of Anthony Patterson, Trai Hume, Dan Ballard and Dan Neil have all attracted interest from Premier League clubs in the past, while Jobe Bellingham was heavily linked with both Brentford and Crystal Palace ahead of last month’s transfer deadline.

Speakman admits there were a number of moments where Sunderland could have cashed in one of their leading assets, but instead opted to rebuff external offers.

“We’ve turned down bids throughout the course of the window,” said the Black Cats sporting director. “I think there’s probably six, seven, maybe even eight players that we were receiving bids and interest on, and where we could quite easily have accepted significant fees.

“But we’ve chosen not to do that, which I just think shows where the ownership’s heads are at, and where we’re at as a football club. Hopefully, with the team at the minute, we’re on the up.”

Sunderland were rejecting bids right up the closure of the window, with Brighton having made a deadline-day approach for teenage forward Tommy Watson.

The Premier League club are understood to have made two offers for the Easington-born 18-year-old, the second of which would have resulted in a seven-figure deal, but the Black Cats opted to hold on to the youngster, who was an unused substitute in last weekend’s win at Portsmouth, having come off the bench earlier this season in the Carabao Cup defeat at Preston.

“Tommy is a young player that we have high hopes for,” said Speakman. “He’s right on the fringes of the team, and we’re really hopefully that he can try to get some minutes this year, although it’s going to be more difficult than ever because the team is performing at a higher level than ever. But he will be supported and we will keep trying to find those opportunities for him.

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“It’s flattering when Premier League clubs are making bids on your players. But is it an easy thing to decline? Yes, because that’s where the club’s at and that’s the position the club is adopting.

“We’re in a really, strong healthy position where it’s not really a big topic of conversation because the type of value that you’re talking about (with the Watson bid), we value the players higher than that and believe in the players more. For us, it’s really able to side-step those.”

Clarke’s departure came after almost two years of incessant interest and Speakman admits it had reached the stage where it become pretty much impossible to hold on to the winger.

That does not, however, mean that selling is an integral part of Sunderland’s financial model, with the sporting director insisting that, in the vast majority of cases, cashing in on an improving player does not make long-term sense.

“I don’t think we’re trying to make a statement by doing that (turning down bids),” he said. “I think we’re trying to run a sustainable football club. We’re trying to stick to our strategy, and we’re trying to stick to our values and beliefs about how the football club should be run. We’ve always said that our strategy is not a player-trading strategy – our strategy is trying to build, develop and grow a football club.

“A byproduct of that is that there will be times where you lose players. You’ll lose a Ross Stewart because a time will come where the stars align and that’s the right decision. It’s the same with a Jack Clarke. But on the other 97 per cent of players, we’re committed, we’re turning down bids, we’re restructuring contracts and we’re retaining those players.

“Through those mechanisms, the team becomes stronger and the club becomes stronger. I’d be surprised if there is another club in the Championship, outside of a relegated club, that’s got a stronger or more valuable group than we’ve got, which considering where we picked the club up at four years ago, is really pleasing. Hopefully, that gives a lot of joy and a lot of comfort to supporters.”