Every word from Kristjaan Speakman on Sunderland's January transfer window, the search for a striker, Amad Diallo interest and keeping Jack Clarke at the Stadium of Light.

How close were you, or were you in for other strikers?

The nine position is very similar to the rest of them, you have three or four targets that you try to prioritise and the forward position is always an area you're trying to strengthen and improve if you can. We went right down to the wire on three or four of them and then, at the end of it, it wasn't to be for various reasons, availability and ultimately - choice. I think sometimes finance can get drawn into it. You've always got the choice if you want to go and spend more and more, but there also comes a point where you have to evaluate that against the value. On this occasion that didn't come through for us. It's not something we're sitting around hugely frustrated about. We're happy we improved the forward line with Romaine [Mundle] joining us. We've got three players in the building that we believe in and we want to make sure they have the opportunity to step up and perform.

Are you comfortable you can create more chances for the strikers in the building to start scoring goals?

I think for the vast majority of the season, creating chances hasn't been an issue for us. For a vast period of time we've been right up there with xG and the various stats you want to look at. It's been about converting those opportunities. There's a lot of talk around nines, if you look into the stats and the details, there's goals coming from other areas of the pitch in almost every team in this league and other leagues. We're really aware of what that looks like. When the team is functioning, we need goals from different parts of the pitch and two or three players to start scoring good numbers, hopefully that's what we can start to build on and deliver in the latter part of the season.

What was the thinking in letting Mayenda go out on loan?

I think there's two things. One is providing opportunities for the players, there's two types. The opportunity out there in other environments that are comparable. We think for him and Nectar going to Hibs, it's similar culture, similar leagues, not too far up the road. We think there's some real positives around how aligned those two environments are. Ultimately, the players in the building want to feel like they've got an opportunity to get in the team and by having an inflated and larger squad, players can feel a little further away from getting into the group. I don't think that helps any of the players. We made a choice based on the attributes we had to keep Semedo in. Semedo had loads of opportunities to go out. I think it's a real good marker for us around how much interest there was in those players from outside of the building, that points to how talented they are, we've got to try and bring those boys through and Eliezer has got a great opportunity to go to Hibs. We wish him all the best with that.

Nectar going is a bit of a gamble, O'Nien and Ballard close to suspension, not a huge lot of depth in that position?

Yeah, that was a conversation we had every day for about 20 days. We're all aware of those factors. Bringing Leo [Hjelde] in was a part of that decision, bringing Callum in, was a part of that decision. There's always an area of risk with those decisions and we have to be accountable in making that judgement call. We certainly feel that we've got enough depth, strength in the group. Ultimately, we need to make sure we don't get two of those out at the same time. But, that could happen. The squad in those moments has to step up. Players have got to take the opportunity. They will get an opportunity because I think it's realistic to say over the course of time before those cards are rescinded, someone is going to miss a game. That's what it's all about and we look at that as a positive.

How far away are both Styles and Mundle away from featuring?

Romaine hasn't played a lot of football in terms of starting appearances but he has been fully fit and training. He came in and did his fitness test so we know exactly where he's at. He'll be available for selection at the weekend, that'll obviously be up to the coach to pick the team. With regards to Callum, that situation is unique. We had an agreement in place with Callum and unfortunately he had to go for an emergency surgery. It's fairly minor nowadays and the medical team and the doctors do an incredible job with that sort of thing. He's got to just get back on his feet imminently, which should be over the next ten to 14 days and back on the grass and available for selection. Part of our decision making was do we stick with that? Do you choose something else? We felt that was the right decision for us and we're prepared to forgo the next game or two games to make sure he's right for the rest of the games.

The Pritchard situation resolved itself, do you think it's a situation he could have avoided?

Look, I think I've said in these conversations before, these guys are not robots. There's loads of things that effect them, they're just like you and I. They've got home life, friends, family, thoughts and ambitions. I think in the end Alex has made an incorrect decision, which he on reflection probably thinks he shouldn't have done. We all make mistakes in life. First and foremost with Alex, we brought him in because we knew he could be a real complement to what we were trying to achieve. I think that was a justified decision and become a real fans favourite. On the pitch he delivered on numerous occasions for our football club to get us promoted. From that side of it, we were delighted. In the end, it was a sensible conversation around what was the next best movement. I think he's happy with the outcome. I wouldn't say we're happy with the outcome because we were in a position where we had to make a decision and put the best interests of the club first. I think we move forward. We've got a strong squad and players in his position who have played in front of him at times, he's played in front of them at times and that's how it is.

Last week, you said you would have loved to see Amad back, how did that debrief?

Amad would have been one of those three or four targets that I spoke about. We're not in control of those factors in terms of the market, I think the January market has been a fairly dormant market. There's not been many transactions. Then you're waiting on player availability most of the time, whether that's on a permanent basis or a loan basis. It ran its course and he wasn't available. He hasn't turned up anywhere else. We've stayed in that for as long as we possibly could. In hindsight, you could say that was detriment to signing another player earlier on. We felt that was a choice we had to make and we were comfortable with that.

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Jack Clarke is obviously under contract, did you have to fight anyone off in the last minute to keep him in?

We're really proud. When you've got a talented group, you're going to get that backhanded compliment where the phone rings on multiple occasions and people are going to try to prise those players away. I think it's a huge success to get through January having not lost a player of that calibre. You only have to look at other teams in the league who have lost big players midway through. That's not us and a real positive for our football club. The lads are really happy, they enjoy the group and everything about Sunderland. We'll plod on to the end of the season and see where that gets us.

Romaine is a player fans might not have heard of, what can you tell us about him?

Romaine is a player that we've known about for some time. We were tracking him at Tottenham and when he made his decision to leave, that got a lot of people alert. We were one of those clubs and we weren't able to move on that in the summer for various reasons. Then when we discovered we might be able to get him on loan, that moved into the possibility of a permanent transaction, we were quick to get that over the line because he's a really talented young man. When we've seen him over the last few years, predominantly in Under-21 football admittedly, some of the stuff he's done over in Belgium, we're more than comfortable he could come and be a positive part of our group.