Martin O’Neill determined to keep Stéphane Sessègnon at Sunderland

Martin O’Neill has vowed to do everything in his power to keep Sunderland midfielder Stéphane Sessègnon at the Stadium of Light this summer.

The 28-year-old has scored 10 goals in 27 appearances for the Black Cats after sealing a move to the Premier League from Paris Saint-Germain in January 2011.

Sessègnon, who cost Sunderland a reported £6m, has been one of the club’s most consistent performers under ex-Black Cats boss Steve Bruce and O’Neill.

The Benin international has been linked with a move away from the club this summer, but O’Neill considers Sessègnon to be an irreplaceable member of his squad and is desperate to keep him.

“You can never tell what’s going to happen over the summer and I don’t want to be saying anything categorically at the start of it which will make us look foolish at the end of it,” he told the Sunderland Echo.

“I don’t want to say something now which will be thrown back at me next season with people saying: ‘Well you said this, or you said that’.

“But there’s no doubt Stephane Sessègnon is a player that we obviously want to keep and we’ll be doing everything we can to do so.

“He adds something to our attack that no other player does and our priority is to improve ourselves as an attacking force next season.

“If you want to do that, you have to look at keeping your best attacking players and attracting others.

“Stephane has been making the right noises about being happy to stay at Sunderland and hopefully that will be the case.”

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