Sunderland 'maximised' Ross Stewart's 'potential' as Kristjaan Speakman explains new goal plan

The Black Cats sold striker Stewart to Southampton on transfer deadline day but sporting director Speakman is confident in the club's forward options

Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman says the club made their best possible offer in order to keep Ross Stewart on Wearside - but he remains confident they now have a 'flexible' forward line which can help the Black Cats score more goals.

Stewart moved to Championship rivals Southampton on transfer deadline day for a deal reported to be worth £10m, after long-running negotiations over a new deal with Sunderland failed to produce a positive result. The Black Cats faced losing the Scotland international for free next summer, and Speakman insists the club 'maximised his potential' during his time at the Stadium of Light.

But far from bemoan the exit of the 27-year-old striker, who scored an impressive 40 goals in just 81 appearances for the club, Speakman feels the future is bright for Tony Mowbray's new-look side. And he pointed to Saturday's emphatic 5-0 win over the Saints as a key example of how they can operate this season.

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"For us it's about trying to make sure we have a flexible forward line that can score goals and can work together," Speakman said. "We're not a team that requires that pinpoint No 9. We play lots of different shapes and change within games. But we want players who can play different roles and we think across the four players we have some real variety in there. Hopefully what that does is equips the coaches to make sure the team is as capable and functional on a given Saturday against a given opponent and we can come out on top."

Speaking on the decision to sell Stewart to Southampton, Speakman admitted it was a 'complex matter' but remained proud of the striker's progress while at Sunderland.

"It's was a very complex matter because the player has performed to a very high level for our football club and we feel privileged to have had him here," he added. "We were really proud of the progress he made here. People will have probably made a judgement on Ross Stewart joining when he came here. We have maximised his potential and he maximised his opportunity here.

"Sometimes that's the outcome, people will move on and have different opportunities. What we had to do is ensure we protect the club and what we tried to do with that situation is make the best possible offer to retain him, which was our number one priority, and I said that throughout all the communication internally and externally.

"But there also comes a moment when you have to make a difficult decision and once you've made that difficult decision - and it was probably a difficult decision for the player as well to move on - then we had to protect the football club and get the best deal, and I certainly feel we did that."