The Black Cats will look to tie down Dan Neil and Dennis Cirkin to new long-term deals, with the pair entering the last 12 months of their current contracts.
And Sunderland will also look to reward their stars who played a pivotal part in getting out of the Championship, with Romaine Mundle one of those who they plan to sit down with this summer.
Mundle still has three years to run on the contract he signed when he joined 18 months ago, but is said to be attracting interest from Europe and the Premier League on the back of his impressive first full season on Wearside.
Despite two injury setbacks, Mundle was still influential for Sunderland when he was on the pitch and started the play-off final against Sheffield United.
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New deals for Neil and Cirkin are priorities for Sunderland, with both having established themselves as hugely important players for Regis Le Bris.
Neil is Sunderland’s captain and started 44 of the 46 games in the regular Championship season, while former Tottenham youngster Cirkin played his way into the England Under-21 squad for the first time.
Patrick Roberts, Luke O’Nien and Niall Huggins are also entering the final 12 months of their contracts, though the club have the option of a year extension for all three players.
Quizzed on Neil and Cirkin’s situation earlier this year, sporting director Kristjaan Speakman said: “We’ve had those conversations with the guys. There’s no question over Dennis or Dan’s commitment to Sunderland. But I don’t think at the minute, it’s the right moment to be getting into too much of a conversation with them.
“That’s really just down to the short time period we’ve got to the summer. We’ve got so much to achieve, and we need to stay focused. Dan’s our captain. I think he’s grown into that captaincy role and, as the season has gone on, has become more and more influential.”
With promotion now secured and planning underway for the Premier League, sorting contracts is as much of a priority as recruiting new players this summer.
Winning promotion means Enzo Le Fee’s loan move from Roma will now be made permanent, though the future of Chris Mepham is unclear as things stand.
Mepham starred for the Black Cats during his season-long loan spell from Bournemouth and although he lost his place for the play-offs, he was needed from the bench after just 72 seconds at Wembley after Luke O’Nien dislocated his shoulder.
Promotion to the top flight has also triggered bonus payments for a number of players Sunderland have signed in recent windows.
The Black Cats will reportedly have to cough up £2m to Manchester City as part of the deal that saw Patrick Roberts move to the Stadium of Light in 2022, while reports in France claim Sunderland will also need to pay just over £400,000 to Eliezer Mayenda’s former club Sochaux.
