David Meyler is happy to have stayed with Sunderland.

Meyler was linked with moves away from the Stadium of Light during the summer, but Martin O'Neill has kept the former Cork City midfielder, who was signed by his boyhood hero Roy Keane.

"There was talk, but it's just rumours in the paper," he said. "I haven't sat down and spoke to the manager about it.

"Obviously it's up to myself. If I want to get into the team every week I have to push myself and work harder than everyone else around me and do better than everyone else around me and at the moment that's what I'm aiming to do.

"When a new manager comes in everyone starts with a clean slate and you have to go out and work as hard as you can. Monday to Friday to prepare for Saturday and if you get the opportunity to play on Saturday you give it everything you've got.

"It was hard at the start as I wasn't fully fit but I have worked extremely hard.

"I never once thought about leaving Sunderland. We have a fantastic manager in Martin O'Neill, and I am hoping he can improve me as a player and get me to the highest level possible."