Alex Pritchard is set to leave Sunderland after the club confirmed the midfielder has expressed a desire to leave the Stadium of Light with ‘immediate effect.’

Pritchard, it was revealed by sporting director Kristjaan Speakman on Thursday, had been offered an extension to his current deal on Wearside with the 30-year-old’s contract set to expire in the summer.

Pritchard joined Sunderland in the summer of 2021 following a three-and-a-half-year spell at Huddersfield Town having progressed through the ranks with Tottenham Hotspur. The midfielder played a key role in Sunderland’s promotion from League One under Alex Neil in 2022 before continuing to impress upon the club’s return to the Championship.

Pritchard had been close to leaving the Stadium of Light in the summer only for a move to fall through before the end of the transfer window.

Since then, Pritchard has made 23 appearances this season – just nine as a starter.

But despite a lack of regular starts, Pritchard has been a key player for Sunderland this season with six total goal contributions, behind only Dan Neil (7) and Jack Clarke (15).

Pritchard has particularly excelled under new head coach Michael Beale who has started the midfielder in each of his last four games in charge across all competitions.

But Beale will be without Pritchard moving forward after the club confirmed the 30-year-old had expressed a desire to leave the club this month.

“On Friday morning, Alex Pritchard informed the club that he was no longer available for selection and he subsequently withdrew from today’s matchday squad,” a statement read.

“The midfielder also expressed his desire to leave SAFC with immediate effect. The club will be making no further comment at this moment in time.”

The news comes less than 48-hours after sporting director Speakman confirmed an extension had been offered to Pritchard and that the midfielder was ‘happy’ and in a ‘really good position.’

“From my perspective, Alex has been an absolutely integral part of getting us to where we are in the Championship, in a really good position,” said Speakman.

“He’s a really important player for the group, and I’m really pleased that he’s got back in the team. He wasn’t in the team for a little bit, but he’s back in the team now. His contract is up at the end of the season. With every player, there’s questions about whether they will be staying or going in every window because we’ve got top players.

“From Alex’s perspective, we’ve made the decision more recently to offer him an extension to his contract. We wouldn’t normally do that because we’d normally do that as part of our succession planning somewhere around March or April time. But we just felt that in conversations with him, that was something we probably needed to do because of the situation and where his head was at more than anything.

“I think that’s the right thing for the football club to do, and he is in a really good position. He’s in the team, and I’m sure he’s happy.”

Pritchard had been the subject of interest from Birmingham City as well as from across Europe and in America with 30-year-old now confirming he will leave the Stadium of Light.