Toffees 'circling' for captain Dan

SUNDERLAND face a battle to keep hold of their skipper Dan Neil with Everton reported to be circling.

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SUNDERLAND face a battle to keep hold of their skipper Dan Neil with Everton reported to be circling.

The club have done an admirable job of tying down the vast majority of their prodigious young squad to relatively long-term contracts in recent times.

The nature of the Black Cats’ reliance on youth, combined with their success of late, was always likely to make them susceptible to outside interest in their best and brightest talents.

But so far they have batted away potential suitors and the players are self-aware enough to know they are playing for a huge club.

Tommy Watson has already signed a deal and the likes of Jobe Bellingham, Dan Ballard, and others are sure to be targets.

Neil, alongside Dennis Cirkin, are rapidly approaching the final year of their current contract at the Stadium of Light.

Talks are on hold at the moment with the focus solely on Sunderland's promotion bid and they will find out their opponents in the semi-final play-offs after Saturday's round of matches.