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Hello and welcome to the Sunderland AFC live blog for Sunday, 16th June.

With the 2019/2020 League One fixtures to be released in a week's time, planning is well under way at the Stadium of Light ahead of the new season.

The Black Cats have published their retained and released list, which confirmed Robbin Ruiter , Max Stryjek , Adam Matthews and Luke Molyneux were all leaving.

Owner Stewart Donald revealed that potential investment is 'moving along' and it will not hinder the club making in-roads in the transfer window. 'It will not stop any signings from progressing and we are working on targets,' he wrote on Twitter. 'I am sure there will be news soon on players we know we need to keep improving the squad.'

Get involved in the conversation. Follow us on Twitter at @ChronicleSAFC , on Facebook at chroniclesafc or on Instagram at chroniclesafc .

Signing off - here's a quick round up.

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Decision imminent...

Sunderland are interested in a move for Plymouth forward Freddie Ladapo.

The Black Cats were first interested in the prolific Pilgrims forward in January and are set to rekindle their interest this summer.

It was reported yesterday that Portsmouth and Sunderland were close to agreeing a fee with Plymouth for Ladapo but it is our understanding that although two clubs have had bids accepted for the 26-year-old, Sunderland are not one of them.

The Black Cats are keen for a new forward this summer with both Will Grigg and Charlie Wyke struggling to find the net on a consistent basis last season.

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Sunderland hopeful in striker search

Sunderland face competition from the Championship and the Scottish Premiership for free agent Lawrence Shankland.

Their transfer plans delayed by their involvement in the play-offs, the Black Cats have moved quickly to try to add to their firepower up front for next season.

But other clubs whose season finished earlier have also made pitches to Shankland, and to agree fees for another Sunderland target, Freddie Ladapo.

Shankland was long ago identified as a target , having impressed for Ayr United in the final year of his contract with the Honest Men, while Plymouth Argyle’s Ladapo was one of League One’s most impressive centre-forwards last season.

Second-tier sides Swansea City, Hull City and Nottingham Forest are said to be interested in 23-year-old Shankland, who scored 34 goals for Scottish Championship side Ayr last season. They too fell short of promotion via the play-offs, but Rangers are Celtic are willing to offer him the chance to play in Scotland’s top division, while Sunderland’s League One rivals Portsmouth have also been credited with an interest.

Black Cats manager Jack Ross will be hoping that having already worked with Shankland at St Mirren works in his favour.

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Who stays, who goes?

Who would you keep, and who would you sell - click here.

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The search goes on ...

Sunderland target Curtis Nelson is expected to join Cardiff City on a free transfer next month.

Central defence is a real priority for the Black Cats this season as they look to upgrade a squad which missed out on promotion to an injury-time goal in the League One play-off final - and they’ve missed out on Nelson.

Full story here.

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Sunderland looking at Lawrence Shankland

SAFC have an interest in Lawrence Shankland, throughout the day we’ll be learning more about him.

What sort of player is Shankland? What can Sunderland fans expect?

First and foremost, Shankland is an out and out goalscorer. He scores all different types of goals too. He’s a very instinctive striker and always seems to be in the right place at the right time inside the box. He is a poacher.

He is quite a physical player, who can use his strength to hold the ball up effectively and bring others into play. But considering that he’s surprisingly good with his feet so he can turn and take on defenders or create that extra yard of space to get a shot off.

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Happy Sunday morning!

Are you ready for a few hours of Sunderland updates? Of course, you are. We’ll start with this from Stuart Rayner.

Oviedo, with his ability, the commendable attitude he showed for much of last season, and yet his dispensability, is therefore the player Ross would probably most like to move on.

Oviedo established himself as first-choice left-back/wing-back once the August 2018 transfer window shut, and had the job for the season’s run-in. Ross was glowing about the way he knuckled down , though there was a worrying period either side of the breakdown of a proposed mid-season loan to West Bromwich Albion where a succession of minor injuries kept him off the field.

At one stage he dropped to third-choice left-back behind James and youngster Denver Hume, both of whom have signed new deals since, so Sunderland are equipped to do without him.

Club Brugge, who were at the front of the queue last summer only to decide the numbers did not add up, are understood to be monitoring the situation again, no doubt hoping that now the time left on the 29-year-old’s deal has halved, they can make the sums add up. But they will be looking to the Gold Cup for further evidence.

It is important, therefore, that Oviedo actually plays – important, but not certain.

You can read the full story here.

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Signing off

That’s all from us today.

We’ll leave you with some of the day’s key stories.

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Something has to give?

New deals. but would you keep them?

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Fixtures

Thursday . . .

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Curtis Nelson

Oxford's Curtis Nelson tackles Birmingham's Lukas Jutkiewicz
Oxford's Curtis Nelson tackles Birmingham's Lukas Jutkiewicz (Image: Birmingham Mail)

Reported Sunderland target Curtis Nelson will leave Oxford United this summer.

Us manager Karl Robinson admitted the centre-half, who will become a free agent when his contract expires at the June, won’t be extending his stay at the League One club.

Curtis has been one of the players linked with the Black Cats this summer, with Jack Ross thought to be keen to add to his options at the back.

But while it’s thought he would like to move to the Championship, Sunderland will be one of the many clubs alerted to his availability.

“I’ll be honest, I don’t foresee Curtis being with us next season. I think that’s quite obvious,” Robinson told the Oxford Mail.

“I spoke to him about four weeks ago. I presume he’s got something lined up, but we don’t know where.

“I want to thank Curtis for everything he’s done. He gave us everything, at the back end of the season he was arguably one of our better players.

“I know when I first came in there were question marks over certain things.

“But every question mark I had over Curtis Nelson he certainly answered.

“There’s no arguments, we will always be there for him.

“Maybe we’ll cross paths again and he goes with our best wishes.”

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Shankland chase latest

Ayr Utd striker Lawrence Shankland
(Image: Sunday Mail)

Latest from Stuart Rayner - full story here.

Sunderland face competition from the Championship and the Scottish Premiership for free agent Lawrence Shankland.

Their transfer plans delayed by their involvement in the play-offs, the Black Cats have moved quickly to try to add to their firepower up front for next season.

But other clubs whose season finished earlier have also made pitches to Shankland, and to agree fees for another Sunderland target, Freddie Ladapo.

Shankland was long ago identified as a target , having impressed for Ayr United in the final year of his contract with the Honest Men, while Plymouth Argyle’s Ladapo was one of League One’s most impressive centre-forwards last season.

Second-tier sides Swansea City, Hull City and Nottingham Forest are said to be interested in 23-year-old Shankland, who scored 34 goals for Scottish Championship side Ayr last season. They too fell short of promotion via the play-offs, but Rangers are Celtic are willing to offer him the chance to play in Scotland’s top division, while Sunderland’s League One rivals Portsmouth have also been credited with an interest.

Black Cats manager Jack Ross will be hoping that having already worked with Shankland at St Mirren works in his favour.

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Shankland poll

Sunderland are keen on the 34-goal striker.

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Fans on Ladapo

What you’ve been saying.

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McGeady vs Lennon

Ouch.

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McGeouch and James

Dylan McGeouch and Reece James have taken up the option of an extra year on their Sunderland contracts.

The duo were both included in the Black Cats’ retained list released last week.

And owner Stewart Donald has confirmed the pair both extended their current deals by an extra season.

While it doesn’t guarantee they will be on Wearside next season, it does mean Sunderland won’t lose either player for nothing, with both signing only a one-year contract last summer.

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Plymouth view on Ladapo

We spoke to Plymouth Live’s Plymouth Argyle correspondent, Chris Errington, to find out all you need to know about Sunderland target Freddie Ladapo.

This is what he told us.

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League One new boys

Sunderland will face seven new sides in League One this season, with Ipswich, Bolton and Rotherham relegated from the Championship, and Lincoln, Bury, MK Dons and Tranmere promoted from League Two.

The Black Cats have recent history with Ipswich and Bolton, of course, but what about the others? Here, we look at the last time Sunderland travelled to all the League One new boys.

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Jan Kirchhoff

Jan Kirchhoff of Sunderland
Jan Kirchhoff of Sunderland (Image: Sunderland AFC)

Jan Kirchhoff has a new club, with the former Sunderland defensive midfielder now at KFC Uerdingen in Germany.

Roker Report say the 28-year-old, whose time on Wearside was plagued by injuries, has signed a two-year deal with the German 3.Liga side.

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Donald on transfers

Stewart Donald’s message to one fan about transfers:

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Freddie Ladapo latest

This from James Hunter this morning:

Sunderland will have to act quickly if they are to enter the race for Plymouth Argyle striker Freddie Ladapo - with two League One sides understood to have already agreed fees with the Pilgrims.

The Black Cats have shown interest in Ladapo but have yet to agree terms with Plymouth for the 26-year-old, who scored 19 goals in all competitions for Argyle last season.

Sunderland and Portsmouth both tried to sign Ladapo in January but saw offers rejected, however they have rekindled their interest this summer following the Pilgrims’ relegation to League Two.

Full story here.

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Morning

Hi everyone and welcome to today’s Sunderland live blog.

The sun has made a rare appearance and we’re ready to bring you all the latest SAFC news and views.

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