Luke O'Nien Sunderland contract update: Defender deal close to being finalised

Sunderland are expecting to finalise a new deal for Luke O’Nien this week, Sunderland Nation can reveal.

The defender is currently in the final year of the three-year deal he signed in the summer of 2021, but talks have been going on for a few weeks about extending his stay.

Those talks are now at a highly advanced stage and all parties are expecting a conclusion in the coming days.

Although there was initial question-marks over whether or not O’Nien could step up to Championship level on a consistent basis, he has been handed a key role this season under Tony Mowbray, edging out last season’s player of the year Danny Batth in central defence.

The reason for that is due to the club’s desire to evolve a possession-based game, with Mowbray explaining why O’Nien is currently so vital to it.

"Luke O'Nien has been amazing and I find it difficult to pick a team without him in it at the moment," Mowbray said earlier this month.

"He brings composure, he brings quality with the ball, he sees the spaces and steps into them. He steps past the striker with the ball and picks the pass into midfield, which helps the fluency of our team.

"With total respect to Danny, that's not his game. Danny's strengths are dealing with set plays, goal kicks and organising the defence and the midfield in front.

"At this moment in time, with total honesty to the supporters, I'm picking Ballard and O'Nien with all of the players there because I want them as the central defenders at this moment time."

Signs of Sunderland's new style can be seen in the statistics too, with the club enjoying on average 66% percent possession in games this season. That is a significant leap from the 56% figure of last season.

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