Sunderland Football Club News

• Nickname:Black Cats
• Founded:1879
• Manager:Martin O'Neill

• Ground:Stadium of light
• Capacity:48,353

Whitehead rubbishes exit talk

06 Aug 2008 - 10:06:47

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Sunderland captain Dean Whitehead has distanced himself from rumours linking him with a move away from the Stadium of Light.

Premier League new boys Stoke City are reportedly keen on signing the versatile 26-year-old, but Whitehead is adamant that he is going nowhere.

He told the Daily Mirror: "I don't want to leave and I haven't been told anything that would make me think I would be leaving. It's all rubbish and rumours.

"People ring you up and say 'you've been linked here and there', but unless it comes from the manager you learn to just block it out.

"The manager hasn't said much to me really.

"The way it is here at Sunderland, you just do your talking on the pitch and you get in the starting eleven."

Whitehead has been with Sunderland since the summer of 2004, having headed to the north-east from Oxford United in a £150,000 deal.