Bendtner open to Sunderland stay

Nicklas Bendtner has hinted he could make his loan spell at Sunderland permanent.

The Denmark striker is on a season-long spell at the English Premier League outfit, and has always made his feelings clear that he has no intention of returning to parent club Arsenal.

The 23-year-old has now moved to deny reports that he is against prolonging his stay at the Stadium of Light because of a lack of Champions League football, claiming poor translation was the reason for the negative comments.

He told reporters: “I’ve never hidden the fact that I’m very keen to play in the Champions League again.”

“But I also read that I’d said if I don’t play in the Champions League, I won’t be playing for Sunderland.”

“That’s not the case but that’s how they misinterpret Danish into English.”

“As a player, you should have ambition – I’m sure every player you speak to wants to play in the Champions League.”

“But I haven’t ruled out staying at Sunderland. As I’ve said before, I just want to enjoy the year I have here and then see what happens in the summer.”

Following the departure of Asamoah Gyan and injury to Connor Wickham, the Dane has become the focal point of the Sunderland attack.

Bendtner said he does not mind the added pressure but wants to improve his goal tally, having struck just twice in eight Premier League games this season.

“I am enjoying being the focal point,” he said. “I don’t mind that at all.”

“But as well as you can sit and talk about things here, people will always look at how many goals you have scored. They don’t look at your overall play.”

“I have sort of realised that all people are concerned about is goals, goals, goals. You can play horrific, but if you score goals it doesn’t matter.””That’s very new to me. I tend to look at my overall play, so it’s a new mentality.”

“There’s definitely more to come, 100 percent. I think that it’s going to be a natural development going forward because it has been a while since I played.”

“It’s going really well, so I just want to win a few more games and add to my goal tally.”