TONY MOWBRAY claims Sunderland are heading into a pivotal summer as they look to keep progressing, and has urged those above him to do ‘all they can to hold on to the club’s best players’.

Mowbray’s own future is the subject of considerable uncertainty, with the head coach having admitted he “does not know what the future holds” amid mounting speculation linking the Black Cats hierarchy with a number of overseas coaches.

As well as sorting out what is happening with Mowbray, Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Kristjaan Speakman must also resolve a number of recruitment and contractual situations this summer.

Amad Diallo will need replacing as he returns to Manchester United at the end of his loan spell, as will fellow loanee Joe Gelhardt, who is heading back to Leeds. Sunderland have an option to buy Edouard Michut for an initial fee of around £5m, but must decide whether to trigger the clause in the French midfielder’s loan agreement with Paris St Germain.

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Ross Stewart’s long-term future remains uncertain as he prepares to head into the final year of his contract at the Stadium of Light, while Sunderland could also find themselves receiving offers for the likes of Anthony Patterson and Dan Neil, who have had hugely impressive seasons in the Championship.

“Of course, the club has to build now and they have to keep their best players,” said Mowbray. “We have to keep growing. That’s football. We have to keep building and improving if we want to be a force.

“I can reel off a list of the teams that are going to be hoping to win promotion from the Championship next season – Southampton are going to be massively strong, and then if it’s Leicester, Leeds or Everton, what about them?

“You’ve got Ipswich Town coming the other way, a club I know really well with 30,000 fans coming every week and a good coach and good players. Then you’ve got West Brom, Norwich City and whoever doesn’t go up out of Luton, Middlesbrough or Coventry.

“It’s a really tough league, and we’ve done incredibly well to be in and around and above some of those teams this season. We need to keep getting better to do it again.”

Mowbray feels Sunderland have made significant progress this season, given that they only clambered out of League One via the play-offs 12 months ago.

The challenge now is to maintain that upward momentum, with this season’s achievements meaning the target for next term will have to be winning promotion.

“I think we’ve been saying that we’re going in the right direction,” added Mowbray. “We came out of League One, and maybe consolidation might have been what the club was thinking about.

“And yet the team has punched above their weight with that, with the backing of the people who come to the away games and come to the Stadium of Light and watch us every week. We’ve managed to punch above mediocrity. We’ve gone close, but unfortunately, we just fell short.”