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Sunderland have told Jack Rodwell they will cancel his contract after the midfielder informed the club he wants to leave Wearside.

Rodwell has no future with the Black Cats and ChronicleLive understands he has told the club he needs a fresh start.

But two weeks after Sunderland let Rodwell’s agent know that they are willing to tear up his contract and write-off the entire £10m transfer fee they paid for the 26-year-old in 2014, they are still waiting for a response.

(Image: Sunderland AFC)

However the silence from Rodwell’s camp suggests that, rather than try to revive his stalled career elsewhere, the player would rather sit out the remaining 18 months of his £70,000-per-week deal.

That would total around £5.4m in wages, and he is well aware there is no way that cash-strapped Sunderland could afford to pay him off.

And the decision now rests with Rodwell, who must decide whether to put football ahead of finance.

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The injury-prone former England and Everton man has started just once in the Championship this season and has not played a first-team game since September, and has spent so much time on the sidelines in his three-and-a-half years at Sunderland he effectively has no resale value.

But if he is released as a free agent this month it would allow him to try to find a new club either during or outside the transfer window.

Sunderland manager Chris Coleman wants to build a tight-knit group with the fighting spirit to give the Black Cats the best possible chance of avoiding relegation to League One, and Rodwell is not part of his plans.

Rodwell is currently training away from the main first-team squad as he seeks to recover from his latest hamstring injury and, if he does stay at the club, he will almost certainly spend the rest of his time on Wearside as an outcast.