Benji Kimpioka's situation at Sunderland has seemingly been made clearer after IK Sirius Sporting Director Ola Andersson spoke to Swedish outlet UNT about the player's future. 

Kimpioka is currently out of contract after rejecting several offers of a new deal to extend his stay at the Stadium of Light, with the 20-year-old Swede appearing to be no closer to determining where his long-term future lies.

With the striker currently training in Sweden with IK Sirius, Andersson was quick to rule out the possibility of the player signing for the club: "We have only promised to stand up and train him.

"I have not entered into any discussions but he has declared that he wants to go outside Sweden again."

This is the latest in a contract debate which has continued for well over a year, with the youngster having previously claimed earlier this month that he wished to stay with the Black Cats during an interview with the Chronicle: "Sunderland is a club that I love and I like everyone there, all the coaches, players and staff in the club.

"We'll see. I want to stay there, but everything is in God's hands."

Kimpioka has only appeared for Sunderland's first team on 14 occasions since arriving at the club back in the summer of 2016, notching four goals in the process.

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The Verdict 

This is a topic for debate that continues to rumble on in the North East, with the Swedish striker seemingly no nearer to deciding where he would like to play his football.

Kimpioka has certainly shown good early promise during his time at the Stadium of Light and the club would almost certainly like to hold onto such a talented young player at a time where the pandemic has put such a strain on the club's spending power.

However, it would naive for Phil Parkinson and the wider club hierarchy to put too much energy into securing the services of a player who is clearly not fully committed to the cause after going over a year without agreeing a new contract.

It may well be best for all parties concerned if they went their separate ways at this stage.