Stephane Sessegnon plays down switch away from The Black Cats

Sunderland star Stephane Sessegnon has turned down reports linking him with a switch away from the Stadium of Light. 

Reports earlier suggested that 29-year-old Benin International who recently signed a new contract in August last season was not part of the plans of manager Paolo Di Canio for the upcoming season.


The Benin International told Sunderland Echo: "The speculation is okay, I have no problem with that. But I'm happy at Sunderland."


"We have worked well in pre-season and hopefully we can continue like this. I'm enjoying it at Sunderland and my mind is for Sunderland now."


Speaking about how the Black Cats manager's spending spree would affect the team, he added: "It's a very important time, you need to have a pre-season. You need to do the hard work to start the season well.


"I think that affected me during the first few months of last season, but this year is different because we have had a good pre-season with a lot of good players coming.


"That's made everyone work hard in training and we have got a strong mentality too among the players. It looks good already for the start of the season."