After a successful season last year, Sunderland are now preparing for life in the Championship, hoping they can retain they place in the second tier. 

Lynden Gooch was an important part of Sunderland's side last year and stepped up especially when Alex Neil came in as manager.

Therefore, the Black Cats received a massive boost when the winger recently extended his contract with the club until 2024.

Despite having been at the club for 16 years, it didn't always look certain that the 26-year-old would stay at the club especially with interest from elsewhere.

However, after gaining promotion to the Championship via the play-offs last season, Gooch was keen to stay as he told Sunderland Echo: "It was obviously documented in the press that I could have left, and I could have, probably for more money.

"But I felt like where I wanted to be for the long term, especially after the success we had, I didn't want to leave after that."

It wasn't just the opportunity to play in the higher league that enticed the player to stay put but also the manager after he revived his Sunderland career as he said: "Then to work with the manager again, I've got a really good relationship with him.

"There were definitely some tough times last season where I thought maybe I was going to need a fresh challenge.

"Especially around January time I thought my time here was probably going to come to an end.

"Football is really strange, things can change really, really quickly so after January I tried just to get my head down as best as I could to try and achieve something. Luckily we were able to do that.

"One of the things when he [Alex Neil] came in was he said that he wanted to try and play me consistently in one position.

"For me, the was really good after playing here, there and everywhere.

"I'm always happy to do that for the team but I did feel I probably needed a bit of stability so that I could focus on doing the job properly, rather than having to change my mindset depending on where I was playing on the pitch."

The Verdict:

This is a really positive bit of business for Sunderland ahead of the new season, especially when it looks as though the 26-year-old could have been departing the club.

It was clear to see that his game stepped up under Alex Neil and therefore it comes as no surprise that he is eager to continue working under him next season.

The combination of working under a manager you enjoy playing for alongside competing in a higher league will make Gooch optimistic about next season and he will no doubt he hoping to develop further.