JOHN OSTER has accepted he has no future at Sunderland and he is desperate to make the most of a new lease of life at Leeds United.

The 25-year-old is on a month's loan at Elland Road, having been allowed to leave the Stadium of Light by manager Mick McCarthy.

The temporary switch, with a view to a permanent deal, ended a depressing spell for Oster, who had not started a game for the Black Cats since August.

He signed a new contract with Sunderland in the summer, despite apparent interest from West Ham, but has fallen down the pecking order with the emergence of Dean Whitehead and Liam Lawrence as first team regulars.

Falling out of favour with McCarthy followed on the heels of him being barracked by sections of the Wearside crowd after a few disappointing performances.

Oster has played in each of Leeds' last two Championship matches. He was involved in the 4-2 win at Preston and he played the full 90 minutes in the 1-0 defeat at Ipswich on Saturday.

The former Everton winger admits he does not expect to return to Sunderland when his loan expires and he revealed McCarthy is helping him to find a new club.

"Mick has been really good to me," said Oster. "We had a chat and mutually agreed that maybe it was time for a change. He kept me involved during my time on the sidelines and said he would try to help me get fixed up somewhere.

"He's got to play the lads at Sunderland who are going to be there so I needed a move in order to get some games in."

His move to Leeds is Oster's fourth temporary switch since Peter Reid paid Everton £1m for his services in August 1999.

After struggling to adapt to the pace of the Premiership, the Welshman was farmed out to Barnsley as well as first employers Grimsby on two occasions.

Having brought an end to his lack of match action, Oster admits he has not ruled out the possibility of signing for Kevin Blackwell's men on a permanent basis.

"I've not spoken to the manager about it," he said. "We'll see how it goes and whether or not there is a chance the loan can be extended.

"It's been a while since I last started a game so it was good to get a couple in again. There's half-a-dozen games over the month so I'm hoping to play as much as I can, and do as well as I can."

After penning a new contract at Sunderland, Argentine Julio Arca has confessed the prospect of ending his love-affair with the club stopped him from leaving.

The 23-year-old was expected to move on next summer when his contract was due to expire.

But Arca signed a new deal until 2007 and wants to help Sunderland, just five points adrift of second-placed Ipswich ahead of Sunday's clash, back to the top-flight.

"When you are so happy with your work and with your life away from football, it is hard to leave something," said Arca.

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