Sunderland’s Luke O’Nien has been linked with a clutch of clubs this month, including Hull City, Luton Town, Millwall and Middlesbrough – Hull though have seemingly been ruled out of the move.
O’Nien, 26, is a man in-demand going into the next month.
He sees his Sunderland contract expire at the end of June – the Black Cats were said to be in discussions with the Englishman over a new deal but he’s seemingly held back on putting pen-to-paper, with Championship interest emerging.
Football Insider previously linked all of Luton Town, Millwall and Middlesbrough before separate reports emerged linking League One champions Hull City with a free summer move, stating that the club faced an ‘uphill’ battle in bringing O’Nien to the Humber – last week, the midfielder was reported to be ‘weighing up’ his options ahead of the summer.
Now though, a report from Hull Live has seemingly ruled the Tigers out of the O’Nien pursuit, with reporter Barry Cooper claiming that it is ‘unlikely’ to be Hull who land the midfielder this summer.
Last time round for Sunderland, O’Nien featured 40 times in League One and scored twice in what was his third season at the Stadium of Light.
The former Wycombe Wanderers man has become a key player at the club and was a favoured name of Lee Johnson’s, who called upon O’Nien to fill in at a number of positions last season.
Sunderland eventually made the play-offs but were knocked out in the semi-finals by Lincoln City.
Where O’Nien will be playing his football next season is anyone’s guess though – he could yet remain at Sunderland, or he could take up the likes of Luton, Millwall and Middlesbrough in their interest should they step up their pursuit.
Hull’s apparent exit from this transfer chase will give those sides a boost, whilst time is rapidly running out for Sunderland to tie him down to a new deal.
