SUNDERLAND have offered Jon McLaughlin, Tom Flanagan and Chris Maguire a contract to remain at the Stadium of Light next season.

However, the Black Cats have confirmed the departure of Joel Lynch, Alim Ozturk, Jack Baldwin, Ethan Robson and Duncan Watmore when their respective contracts expire at the end of this month.

Flanagan and Maguire are expected to agree to new deals at the Stadium of Light, with the pair both having been influential performers under both Jack Ross and Phil Parkinson this season.

Flanagan started the final six games of the campaign after returning from injury in February and formed an effective relationship with Bailey Wright, who is also expected to be offered a permanent deal following the end of his loan from Bristol City.

Maguire was involved in all bar one of Sunderland’s league games, scoring ten League One goals from his attacking-midfield role.

McLaughlin’s future is more uncertain as the goalkeeper has been the subject of sustained interest from Championship side Blackburn Rovers.

Rovers boss Tony Mowbray is known to be a strong admirer of the Scotland international, and Parkinson will have to persuade McLaughlin that is worth turning down the chance to play in the Championship in order to remain with the Black Cats.

Of the five players who will depart at the end of the month, Ozturk’s exit is the only slight surprise, with the Turkish centre-half having featured prominently under Parkinson in the second half of the campaign.

Watmore’s release has felt inevitable for a long time, with the former England Under-21 international having suffered a wretched run of luck with injury. Having burst onto the scene during Sunderland’s Premier League days, Watmore leaves having made just 40 senior starts in the space of six-and-a-half years.

Lynch performed something of a stop-gap role during his brief time on Wearside, while Baldwin had fallen well down the pecking order before he was sent on loan to Salford City.

Robson was regarded as a bright future prospect when he emerged from the academy ranks, but loan spells at Dundee and Grimsby Town failed to elevate him into Sunderland’s first-team ranks.