Sunderland AFC backed to sell Dan Neil to AS Roma this summer - on one condition | OneFootball

Neil would be a big miss for the Black Cats, but if Enzo Le Fee is involved in the deal, then it would be a sweetener...

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

The Stadium of Light is going to be a hotbed of activity this summer in terms of transfers - especially if Sunderland are not promoted to the Premier League.

The Black Cats are sitting on a potential gold mine of players that could theoretically be cashed in on come the summer, and whilst it's likely that there won't be a massive spree of departures, there will be some names that will move on to bigger and better things if the Wearsiders are still in the Championship.

The likes of Jobe Bellingham and Chris Rigg are going to no doubt attract the most interest, but one player who may go under the radar on the pitch at times yet has clubs tracking him is Dan Neil.

A Sunderland academy graduate, Neil is of interest to not only clubs like Everton of the Premier League, but as per a report from journalist Pete O'Rourke, Italian giants AS Roma are also keen on Neil.

Dan Neil backed for AS Roma move as long as Enzo Le Fee is a part of Sunderland deal

It is perhaps not a surprise that Roma are watching at least one contracted Sunderland player, given they sent Enzo Le Fee there on loan to re-unite with his former Lorient manager Regis Le Bris.

If Sunderland are promoted to the Premier League, they are obligated to sign the French playmaker for a fee of £20 million - that of course will be taken off the table if they fail to make it back to the top flight for the first time since 2017.

And FLW's Sunderland fan pundit Jack Austwicke thinks that the club simply have to sort out a permanent move to the Stadium of Light for Le Fee in any negotiations over Neil heading to the Italian capital - even if it's a straight swap between the two.

"I think it could be a good swap deal," Jack told FLW.

"It does benefit us, but it goes under the radar just how important Neil is to our team.

"Just a calming presence in midfield, really, really good on the ball, controlling, a captain and leader this season, and he's been a good one most would agree.

"Obviously the flashy players like Jobe, Rigg, Le Fee, Mundle will be looked at, that's who people look at, but Neil doesn't get as much of a mention as he probably should, and it's no surprise he's got this attention.

"I could see him doing well in a league like that. I think albeit he's young, he's very experienced, played a lot of games in a short career so far, and it would be nice to see us get something the other way.

"It's a club we've done business with and possibly have a good relationship with, so if we could do some sort of swap deal where we get Le Fee back (if not promoted), but it seems a bit of a stretch - it depends what kind of money we get, I guess we'll soon see but they're going to be sniffing around a lot this summer."

Sunderland may struggle to tempt Enzo Le Fee to join permanently if they're still in the Championship

On the fringes of the first-team at Roma, Le Fee moved to Sunderland on a temporary basis as he had a strong relationship with Le Bris, and before suffering an injury he showed some real touches of class, somewhat fit for a top flight division.

Obviously he'll be a Sunderland player next season anyway if they can get over the line with promotion, but there will be concerns that if still in the second tier, the Wearsiders may not be able to convince Le Fee to play in the Championship again.

That could scupper potential negotiations with Roma for Neil, as it's likely he'd want to pursue such a move if I Giallorossi came knocking, such is the size of the club in question.