EXCLUSIVE: Stoke boss Alex Neil among those eying move for Sunderland defender

Could Lynden Gooch be set for a reunion with Alex Neil this summer? Stoke - along with Preston and QPR - are looking at the full-back.

Stoke, Preston and QPR are eying a move for Sunderland full-back Lynden Gooch this summer.

Gooch is the Black Cats’ longest-serving player having joined on a two-year scholarship as a 16-year-old, and he has since gone on to make nearly 250 appearances for the club, including 11 in the Premier League.

The American has a year left on his contract but he has fallen behind Trai Hume for the right-back spot at the Stadium of Light, and a return to fitness for Niall Huggins would push him further down the pecking order.

Along with Danny Batth and Alex Pritchard, Gooch has already been informed the club will not be extending his contract beyond next summer. So, while the 27-year-old remains very much part of Tony Mowbray’s first-team squad at the moment, Sunderland will not stand in his way if he can find a new club this summer.

He is unlikely to be short on options either, with former boss Alex Neil considering a reunion with Gooch at Stoke. It was Neil who converted Gooch to the full-back position during his brief time in the northeast and he remains an admirer.

However, Preston and QPR are also monitoring the situation closely, both of whom see huge value in Gooch given his experience, versatility and relatively low cost.

Despite the interest and potential move this summer, though, Gooch has been a true survivor at Sunderland and it is a club very close to his heart. He will be quietly backing himself to earn himself a new deal, although the club’s commitment to developing young talent suggests his long stay at the Wearside club is drifting towards an end.

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