DESPITE admitting his side misses Fabio Borini, Sunderland head coach Gus Poyet believes the striker made the right decision to stay at Liverpool, but only because of the quality of games he has played rather than the quantity.

The Black Cats, who face last season’s runners-up this afternoon, were desperate to sign the Italian in the summer after a successful season-long loan at the Stadium of Light last term and the club had a £14m bid accepted by the Merseyside club.

The 23-year-old was eager to stay with the Reds and fulfil his ambitions of playing in Europe, however, and refused the offer of another loan deal despite the fact he started the season behind Daniel Sturridge, Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert and Lazar Markovic.

Brendan Rodgers was keen to move Borini on in the summer and even though Sturridge has spent the majority of the season sidelined through injury, the Italian’s opportunities have been limited.

The former Chelsea trainee has started only three matches – one of which was Liverpool’s Champions League tie at Real Madrid – but Poyet thinks the Italian made the right decision.

“In terms of quantity probably not,” the Uruguayan said when asked if Borini had been justified in staying at Anfield. “In terms of quality probably yes, because he has played in the Champions League.

“I hope he does not play, but I am looking forward to seeing him. He knows us very well and it is always the situation that when a player has been with you that he does well against you, especially strikers who always seem to score, but I would like to see him. I will have a nice chat with him face to face

“Goals are very expensive so we have missed him a lot. I think we are learning now but the higher you go there are some players when you know them well they become a little bit more expensive.”

Sunderland are highly unlikely to make another move for Borini when the transfer window opens next month, and instead will focus on trying to tie Connor Wickham down to a new deal.

Wickham’s camp have intimated the striker will wait until the new year before deciding whether to commit his future to the Black Cats, and asked whether he would try to sign the Italian again Poyet said: “It is difficult to say. What I can tell you, to make it fairly easy, is that things are clear.

“At the moment it looks like everything is calm so we will keep it calm. It will stay in house. We have got things clear about what we can do and what we can’t do. It is better for us like that. It has been great so far.”

A Luis Suarez double helped Rodgers’ side claim victory when Sunderland hosted the Reds just over a year ago, but his absence has been felt this term following his £75m move to Barcelona.

In March, Poyet drew criticism from Liverpool fans when he claimed the Merseysiders would be a mid-table without the Uruguay international, but the Black Cats head coach feels he has been proved right.

“Normally you make someone bigger or better when they are not there,” he said. “That is natural, but I knew how good he was. People were very upset with me last year when I said that without Luis Suarez that team was probably mid-table.

“A few hate me. I was not going against Liverpool and I was not going against Steven Gerrard, who is one of the icons of English football, but I was making Luis Suarez the player he is. Sometimes you try to put somebody in a good position and that makes it sound as if the rest are rubbish and they are not of course. They are good players.

“The problem is that he is so good that it makes a difference. You can talk about Barcelona with Messi or Madrid with Ronaldo and it is the same. I talked about Aguero with Man City the other night and he is the same.

“At this particular moment if Aguero gets injured they could suffer a little bit, and depending on how many games you play this month it could be a nightmare. When you have got Aguero, you have got Aguero and that’s all I meant about Suarez. He is different.”