West Ham United, Roma and Everton are all in the race to sign £20M rated midfielder Dan Neil from Sunderland this summer.

Sunderland’s Dan Neil has been crucial to their push for the play-offs this season. They sit fourth in the table, ten points above fifth-placed Coventry City.

Neil is the captain of the black cats at just 23 years of age, and he has done well in leading a new-look and youthful Sunderland side. Neil alongside Jobe Bellingham have taken the second tier by storm in midfield this season with the latter also being linked with the Hammers.

Neil would be a very welcomed addition to the midfield for Graham Potter with his leadership, passing, and concentration being factors that would really work in a Potter system.

However, they have competition from two other clubs to where a move currently looks more likely. The first being Everton, the Toffees attempted to sign the midfielder in January for around £15m. David Moyes is said to be keen on the midfielder as he has been keeping tabs on the players since he saw him in the the Academy of Light when he was Sunderland boss.

Serie A giants AS Roma are also interested in Dan Neil and a deal may be more likely due to the relationship between the clubs. Eyebrows were raised when Enzo Le Fee made a loan move from Roma to Sunderland, the move was a huge step down for the Frenchman.

While tracking Le Fee’s loan, Dan Neil has reportedly caught the eye of Roma scouts and they could make a move in the summer for the right price and they have a good bargaining position if the Black Cats want to make the move for Le Fee permanent.

If Sunderland manage to get promoted to the Premier League this conversation becomes almost redundant, there is no way the captain of the club would leave when his boyhood club has just made it back to the big time.

However, at this moment in time, Leeds and Sheffield United look certain to go up automatically which would mean Sunderland would have to come up via the playoffs. which as everyone knows isn’t guaranteed, even though they would probably be the favourites.

If a deal can be stuck, Dan Neil is exactly the type of player we should be targeting- young, talented, and hungry. We have also had some huge success stories from the championship in recent years. Aaron Cresswell, Michail Antonio, Said Benrahma and Jarrod Bowen all came from the Championship and have been absolutely crucial to our successes in the last decade.