Who Are Sunderland’s ‘Must Keep’ Players For 2026/2027?

Enzo Le Fee of Sunderland gives his team instructions during the Premier League match between Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur at Stadium Of Light in Sunderland, United Kingdom, on April 12, 2026. (Photo by Alfie Cosgrove/News Images/NurPhoto via Getty Images) | NurPhoto via Getty Images

Anthony Gair says…

In my opinion, Dan Ballard is the best player in the team, and it’s not even close.

We signed him for around £2 million, and I honestly believe he’s priceless now. Every game he’s out there, throwing his body on the line, winning every ball in the air and being an absolute brick wall at the back. He’s one of those players who genuinely hates conceding goals, and you can see it in everything he does.

If you want one moment that sums him up, look at that block at the end of the Arsenal game at the Stadium of Light — last-ditch, perfectly timed and it kept us level against one of the best sides in the country. Ballard in a nutshell. No fuss, no theatrics, just an unbelievable determination to stop the ball from going in the net.

I think people underestimate his influence too. He’s potentially one of the strongest centre backs in the Premier League already and if we lost him, you’re looking at £50 million-plus to find someone even close to the same level. Good luck with that.

Keep him at all costs.

Ben McKevitt says…

For me, it’s Enzo Le Fée. He doesn’t receive the same level of interest from other clubs or speculation in the news, but he’s irreplaceable in the current iteration of our team.

He has everything that we need regardless of whether he’s playing wide or centrally — the measured arrogance to take a risk, the creativity and vision to open up a game and the work rate to grind out results with the rest of the lads. He’s easily Premier League quality and is our most technically gifted player while displaying the attitude to match.

His relationship with Régis Le Bris is well known at this point, but I think it’s fundamentally important for Le Fée and his career form reflects that fairly accurately with his previous best stint being at Lorient, also under Le Bris’ tutelage. It’s a relationship which allows hi a level of trust and freedom to express himself, and we reap the rewards every week.

Replacing that level of ability, work rate and buy-in for a player in his position would be almost impossible. At twenty six, he’s the one we should be building around for years, with Granit Xhaka’s age a looming shadow over his time guiding our renaissance.

Ciaran McKenna says…

For me, it would have to be Noah Sadiki and since signing from Belgium last summer, he’s been nothing short of a revelation.

He never stops in a game, working his socks off from the first whistle to the last and always performing well. He covers so much ground, never shows any sign of fatigue and is also more than capable on the ball, willing to pick it up in tight areas and distribute well to move us forward.

I’m always so impressed with his awareness too, dropping in to cover the full backs as soon as necessary. He has this great knack of seeming to pop up wherever he’s needed and I love him for it.

His brilliant quality as a player makes him hard to replace for one, but his personality and passion are another. He clearly loves the club and the fans already and it’s great to see a young lad taking to such a major change with the brilliance that he has.

Sadiki is only twenty one. He’s on a sky-high trajectory and I hope he sees Sunderland as the place to achieve those levels. I absolutely love him, as I am sure we all do, and would be very pleased to see him remain on Wearside for the foreseeable future.

John Wilson says…

I sat for a while, thinking about who was the most important player to retain, which shows the quality we’ve got used to this season.

I don’t think anyone could disagree with any name put forward but after consideration, I decided that Granit Xhaka is the glue we need to keep this team moving forward. Maybe in a couple of years, he may not be able to do the same job but for now, we need to make sure he’s our captain, motivator and organiser on the pitch next season as well.

I don’t think I need to wax lyrical about the qualities and dynamics he brings to the squad, and indeed the club as a whole, as it’s been there for all to see.

We were all in awe when we managed to sign him, and that was for a reason. Our growth and development into a top Premier League side is in the early stages and we need Xhaka with us for next season at least.

Mark Wood says…

We have great first choice players throughout our team that I wouldn’t want to let go of, but based on who I wouldn’t want to leave because I think they would be very hard to replace, you can narrow it to three.

Brian Brobbey, as we’re only too aware how long it took us to replace Ross Stewart, and Granit Xhaka (how difficult wouldn’t it be to replace his influence on the team?), but the one I choose above these two has to be Robin Roefs.

We’ve found ourselves a top goalkeeper and he has every attribute you would want to see at Premier League level.

He can command his area, coming out to the edge of the box and claiming crosses. His distribution is as good as any and accurate, and he’s a great shot stopper. Even over the course of this season, I would say he’s improved and for such a young goalkeeper, he’ll only get better.

He had some criticism following the win over Tottenham about putting his foot on the ball and not getting it forward with any urgency.

That’s interesting because in the lead up to the game, there were a couple of tactical assessments of new Tottenham manager Robert De Zerbi’s previous teams and one trait which was highlighted was that he would instruct his goalkeepers to stop play and put their foot on the ball, thereby inviting the opposition forwards to come and press and opening up gaps behind them to play through.

I would suggest that Roefs has been instructed by Régis Le Bris and his staff to do this — and in this case, doing to Tottenham exactly what they tried to do to us at times. He never has any problem about executing game plans perfectly, which isn’t always easy to do and has served us well over the course of the season.

Again, does anyone need reminding of Lee Camp et al during our relegation from the Championship of how difficult it is to replace a goalkeeper?

It’s a key position and I’d say there will be a few more established clubs in the Premier League that’ll be looking at Roefs, as he’s proven himself as one of the better keepers in England, at least.