Callum Styles knows there are conversations to be had over his future at the Stadium of Light this summer but the Hungarian is also keen to have discussions regarding his spot in the Sunderland team heading into the final fortnight of the campaign.
Styles arrived on Wearside in unusual circumstances in the January transfer window on a loan deal from League One club Barnsley. The 24-year-old had been linked with a move to Sunderland in the past, including last summer where talks were held over a potential deal. That move was put on hold until January but was at risk of collapsing once more when Styles required surgery on his appendix. Styles completed his surgery and was handed a recovery time suitable enough to see the loan move over the line before making the first of his nine appearances in February’s 2-1 defeat to Swansea City.
Styles was deployed at left wing-back by interim head coach Mike Dodds in that defeat to Swansea, an area of the field he has featured prominently compared to the more defensive-minded midfield role he tends to occupy when on national duty for Hungary.
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Styles’ versatility is one of the aspects which made his loan agreement enticing to Sunderland, particularly on the left side of the pitch given injuries to the likes of Dennis Cirkin, Aji Alese and Niall Huggins this season. But it is in midfield where Styles sees himself more naturally, an area he has seldom been utilised at Sunderland aside from last weekend’s switch against West Bromwich Albion.
With just two games left of the season, however, Styles admits conversations over his starting position may have to come to the fore following news of Dan Neil’s ankle injury which will see him miss the remainder of the season. In Neil’s absence against Millwall it was Jobe Bellingham who dropped back from his recent centre-forward role to partner Pierre Ekwah in central midfield before a change in system in the second half of their 1-0 defeat at the Stadium of Light did see Styles move into the holding midfield role as Jobe moved back up front.
The return of Corry Evans from his long-term knee injury was a welcome boost for Sunderland in light of Neil’s injury, but Styles believes a discussion regarding the 24-year-old starting the final two games of the season against Watford and Sheffield Wednesday in midfield may need to be had.
“I hope so. I think that’s a conversation that’s got to happen,” Styles told We Are Sunderland. “We’ll soon see when Saturday comes.
“Dan has been top. He’s a top player and it’s unfortunate he got an injury but we’ve just got to keep going in these last two games.
“I’ve played every position you can imagine. I’m obviously a midfielder but I’ve played a lot at left wing-back as well so I think managers seem to know I can play in a lot of positions. It can be a hindrance, but it can be a positive.
“I’m more of an advanced player so when I get more freedom to go forward and I have that licence to roll in I think that’s more my natural position. In recent results and performances you’ve seen I’ve enjoyed it more and played better.
“I think I can deal with it very well, I’ve done it quite a few times in my career,” Styles added on rotating in and out of midfield. “Obviously different players can deal with different things and I can deal with that and I can deal with all the tactical stuff so I don’t mind it.
“That was the game plan, I don’t just do stuff off the cuff. I’ve got to do what the boss says. So that was the game plan. I just want to win games and we didn’t today so that’s disappointing. We didn’t win the game because we didn’t threaten them enough.”
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Styles’s time on Wearside has been challenging given the operation he had to recover from coupled with a change in head coach following Michael Beale’s dismissal in the week leading up to his debut before Sunderland’s form slumped significantly with six defeats in a row.
That run of form has extended throughout Dodds’ interim period in charge with just two wins in 11 games in charge following the defeat to Millwall after Duncan Watmore’s strike 19 minutes from time was enough to separate the sides and end Sunderland’s three-game run of clean sheets – a run Styles has played a key role in against both Leeds United and West Brom.
“They’re completely different games, completely different teams in the way the opposition set up,” said Styles. “The Bristol game we had loads of chances but didn’t score, today we had hardly any chances and didn’t score. Even if we did have clear cut chances we might not have scored today. I know in previous games we’ve done well keeping clean sheets, but they’ve done us on one transition and that can’t happen.”
Styles (90 per cent) was behind only Jobe (91 per cent) when it comes to his pass success rate against Millwall, but he led the way when it comes to counter-pressures and recoveries for Sunderland. Styles’ overall defensive action map (above), however, demonstrates how much he has been assigned to the left side of the field since arriving in January, despite his desires to move further in-field.
Styles’ licence to roam forward and in-field against Millwall, however, allowed Sunderland an extra body in attack, with the Hungarian linking up on a couple of occasions in the first half to find himself in the opposition penalty area but, by his own admission, Sunderland lacked that ‘killer instinct and final bit of end product in the game’ against a stubborn opposition who have now won six of 11 games since Neil Harris’ return in February.
The future of Styles, who was described as ‘an interesting player’ by the club’s sporting director Kristjaan Speakman in January, remains up in the air. Sunderland hold the option of making his loan move from Barnsley permanent but the 24-year-old won’t have much time to reset either way at the conclusion of the season before heading off to Germany with his national team to compete in the European Championships – Hungary involved in Group A alongside the host nation, Scotland and Switzerland.
“I haven’t really had long here, to be honest,” he said. “My first game was the end of February after an operation. It was earlier than expected.
“In the summer I’ve got the Euros to look forward to so I don’t really have a reset. It’s just a continuous cycle so I’ve just got to focus on each game, but I’d rather play every game I can.”
Although his Sunderland future remains unclear, nailing down a regular starting position feels key for Styles whether that be on Wearside next season or elsewhere in the Football League. It may only be a two-game audition if he is afforded the opportunity in Neil’s absence in Sunderland’s final games of the season, but they could be two important fixtures for Styles.
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