Sunderland stance on ex-Preston North End captain’s future as Middlesbrough transfer claim made
The Irishman was loaned out by the Black Cats last summer.
Former Preston North End captain Alan Browne will be allowed to leave Sunderland this summer, reports claim.
The midfielder arrived at the Stadium of Light in 2024 after a decade at PNE, during which time he made 414 appearances for the club. He won promotion under Regis Le Bris in 2025.
Browne was then made available for loan last summer and was picked up by Middlesbrough. He impressed for Kim Hellberg’s side, winning the Championship Player of the Month award in January, when he also scored against his former club. He started in Boro’s playoff final defeat to Hull City last month.
Now, having returned to Sunderland, the Northern Echo are reporting that Browne could play his football elsewhere again next season, but it is unlikely that he will rejoin Middlesbrough.
If Browne were to stay with the Black Cats, he would be part of the first Sunderland team to be playing in Europe since 1973, with the club having secured Europa League qualification through a seventh-placed finish in the Premier League last season. However, it seems more logical that he will depart in the coming weeks.
The 31-year-old Irish international struggled for game time during Sunderland’s promotion-winning season and expressed disappointment at not being kept in Le Bris’ top flight plans last year.
He told BBC Radio Tees in September: "We're the players who got the club there and you'd like to think you'd be rewarded with a fair chance the following season. I'm disappointed but I completely understand the club's outlook.
"They want to stay in the Premier League, progress and get as high up the table as they can. They've made the choice to spend that money and bring in players who they think are capable of doing that and they didn't think most of the previous players were.
“It could be a fair assessment because you see it so often where teams go up and come down and go back up and become a yo-yo team. They obviously don't want to do that. I think they've probably looked at Nottingham Forest from a few years ago and tried to replicate that.
"Hopefully it works out. I'm not going to talk bad about them. I'm disappointed, which is fair, but hopefully I'll get another chance next season."