A SATISFIED Jack Ross admits there is an “outside chance” of Sunderland being busier than he is expecting to be next month if players he would rather keep end up being sold on for suitable offers.

The Black Cats manager is hoping to keep hold of his main men when the window opens for business on New Year’s Day, although knows the club’s lofty League One status might not be enough to prevent sales if valuations are met.

It is not that Sunderland are in a position where they are desperate to sell, merely certain deals could happen because of expiring contracts or high wages if clubs from the top two divisions have the financial clout to tempt them.

Josh Maja and Lynden Gooch are the two main contenders given that they attracting interest from elsewhere ahead of hitting the final six months of their contracts, while there are another eight players in similar situations.

Maja and Gooch have both been in deep discussions over a new deal, while this week Sunderland have been linked with moves for both Jermain Defoe and Connor Wickham – with Ross responding by suggesting “some of the stuff I have read has been wholly inaccurate”.

But Ross is sensible enough not to make wild promises ahead of a transfer window when he is looking to improve on “one, possibly two” areas of his squad and he does not expect too much to happen unless there are more departures.

“I would expect there was an outside chance (of being busy because of people leaving). More than it being likely,” said Ross. “There has been no indication of any players wanting to leave and nothing from other clubs wanting to take our players away.

“We are still ten days away from the window and there has been no indication of either of those things. I have never really been worried about losing players from the squad because that’s the nature of football.

“I suppose with Josh’s situation, he’s fit at the moment and out of contract at the end of the season, that will be a factor for potential suitors and I get that. That’s the nature of the beast and if they’re interested then they might not show their hand just yet, why would they?

  “We are still confident that Josh and Lynden will stay at the club. There’s nothing in my planning that thinks they won’t be there. Equally I have been surprised before in football but at the moment I am confident everything will remain in place.”

Maja’s 13 goals this season have made him a target for a number of clubs, but Sunderland are keen to persuade the 19-year-old to stay. He has even been linked with interesting Manchester City and Tottenham, as well as plenty Championship teams.  Gooch has impressed this season and is understood to be close to agreeing a new deal, but even then Ross will take nothing for granted and he will not worry about things either.

He said: “We have had regular conversations about them anyway, I don’t know if Stewart kind of laughs at how laid back I am. I honestly don’t worry about problems, I just worry about fixing them.  “If you phone me tomorrow and told me I am selling the two of them in January, I’d just have to find a solution, whether that was in my squad or whether it is outwith. At the moment they are here and enjoying their football, they played well for me and until that changes I don’t really think about what ifs.”

The links to Defoe and Wickham were intriguing if nothing else because of their links to the Stadium of Light, having had spells there already.  But Ross is adamant that as things stand the forward area is not something he is looking to add to, with Maja, Duncan Watmore, Jerome Sinclair and Chris Maguire all capable of playing there already.

To add to those options, Charlie Wyke should be available over the festive period provided he comes through his behind-closed-doors match at the Academy of Light this afternoon when the rest of the first team squad head to the south coast ahead of facing leaders Portsmouth tomorrow.  “Charlie will play in a bounce game on Friday, so he won’t travel,” said Wyke. “He will be with the Under-23s and that will be him. He has trained for the last two and a half weeks, and played a bit of in-house football.  “He played in a bounce match last week and he will play 90 minutes Friday and then that’s him. If he comes through that OK then potentially he will be close to the squad for Boxing Day to face Bradford.  “Hopefully we will be able to use him over this schedule between now and Charlton. He looks good, better than he did first time around, which was my fault for rushing him last time. He is in good place physically which is encouraging.”

Left-back Reece James is available again for Sunderland’s top of the table tussle with League One leaders Portsmouth on Saturday.

James was withdrawn from last weekend’s game with Bristol Rovers after suffering an ankle problem in the warm-up. His place went to Bryan Oviedo.

But James is available for the long trip to the south coast, while manager Jack Ross is keeping an eye on another couple of injury worries – including Tom Flanagan who missed the Rovers game with a knock.

Ross said: “We have a couple of potential worries, we will assess on Friday. By and large it’s the same situation, Reece James is back. Already we have seen we have rotated the squad during busy periods so it’s understandable we will freshen up for these games coming up.”

Sunderland are now five points behind leaders Portsmouth ahead of the meeting at a sell-out Fratton Park, which would have been a Premier League fixture not too long ago.

Ross said: “It’s like all games, individually they will not define a season unless it’s the final game where the outcome determines a finish. In the middle of a season, games can take on significance so I will not shy away from that given where we are and Portsmouth are.

“How I am, at the moment, I would try to judge myself against success. To contradict that slightly, I would think we are slightly further ahead than maybe we thought after the summer we had.

“Because the club was in a huge transition through the whole club, those things impact on the football side of things. We wanted to try to be in and around the top seven around now and then push on in January, so I would think we are slightly ahead.”