Sunderland boss David Moyes has insisted he would never have allowed striker Jermain Defoe to have the clause in his contract which means he can leave for free in the wake of relegation.
Moyesie said: “We hope Jermain stays. Everybody at the club wants him to stay, all the supporters want him to stay, but it has to be Jermain’s decision what he does.
“Yes, there’s a clause in the contract, which is hard to take, I think. I would hope that in my time, if I had been the manager, I wouldn’t have allowed a clause like that to be in there.
“But it is, and obviously we have to honour the contract.”
To date, the Midget Gem has scored 15 goals for Sunderland this season, not to mention an unconfirmed number of gals.