AFTER putting pen-to-paper on a fresh one year deal, Aiden McGeady says it was never his intention to leave Sunderland.

The news was confirmed on Tuesday that the 35-year-old have signed fresh terms with the club ahead of the 2021/22 League One campaign.

McGeady joined the rest of the squad as they made a return to pre season training this week.

The winger played a huge role last season, making 16 assists and scoring four goals as Lee Johnson’s side finished in the play-off places eventually coming up short in the semi finals against Lincoln City.

After signing a new deal, McGeady gave an honest interview to the club’s official website.

“I’m really happy that it’s all sorted.

“Obviously it wasn’t a great end to the season for any of us but ultimately for me, I made it clear that I wanted to stay and the club made their intentions as well so it’s just been a bit of a hectic summer I think, for everybody.

“I’m just really happy that I could get it sorted. I didn’t want to leave. I made that quite clear. I think I have unfinished business here especially with the way the season finished so hopefully this season can be successful for everybody.

Even though McGeady is in the twilight years of his career, there’s little doubt he’ll play a huge role next season as he enters his fifth campaign with the Black Cats. He admits that his age played a role in deciding to stay.

“It’s quite a long time. Obviously I had a short loan spell away the season before but I’ve enjoyed my time here massively.

“At my age, I made it quite clear that I didn’t want to be going elsewhere or moving and I’m quite happy here. I like the club.

“I think it’s a massive club and it’s got so much potential. We’ve just not realised the last couple of seasons.

“I think since we came down to League One we’ve been unlucky every season. It’s just not quite clicked towards the end.

“I think if you look back to that bad run we had at the end of last season, realistically we should have went up but it’s down to us as players and the team we had last season. We weren’t quite good enough but hopefully this season we can put that right.

“That’s everybody’s intention, that’s my goal and that’s the manager’s goal. Everybody at the club.”

The club are still awaiting news on their out-of-contract trio of players.

Charlie Wyke, Luke O’Nien and Denver Hume have all been offered fresh terms but are yet to put pen-to-paper.

Sunderland play their first pre season friendly tomorrow afternoon away at National League North side Spennymoor Town.