{"id":567868,"date":"2020-10-01T09:37:43","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T13:37:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=567868"},"modified":"2020-10-01T09:37:43","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T13:37:43","slug":"benji-kimpioka-signs-new-sunderland-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/10\/01\/benji-kimpioka-signs-new-sunderland-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"Benji Kimpioka Signs New Sunderland Contract"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/clubs\/sunderland\/\" target=\"_self\">Sunderland<\/a> striker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.transfermarkt.co.uk\/benjamin-mbunga-kimpioka\/leistungsdatendetails\/spieler\/433652\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Benji Kimpioka<\/a> has signed a new one-year contract to keep him at the club until summer 2021.<\/p>\n<p>The deal, which includes the option of a second year, marks the end of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/09\/25\/report-free-agent-benji-kimpioka-close-to-sunderland-return\/\" target=\"_self\">lengthy contract discussions between the Sweden under-20 international and Sunderland.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Kimpioka made four appearances in <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/category\/league-football\/league12\/\" target=\"_self\">League One<\/a> last season, including scoring a last-minute equaliser against Coventry City in November 2019.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Kimpioka Signs One-Year Sunderland Contract<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Sunderland Boss &#8216;Pleased&#8217; To Secure Striker&#8217;s Services<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>With contract discussions ongoing since Kimpioka\u2019s previous deal ran out last June, Sunderland manager Phil Parkinson was pleased to finally secure the young striker\u2019s services.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.safc.com\/news\/team-news\/2020\/october\/benji-kimpioka-contract\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Speaking to the club website<\/a>, he said: \u201cWe\u2019re very pleased that Benji\u2019s contract situation has been resolved.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow, it\u2019s up to him to work hard and push his way into the first-team picture.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Benji Kimpioka: Sunderland&#8217;s Rising Star<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>20-year-old Kimpioka arrived at the Stadium of Light from Swedish side <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/squads\/e9d60d0c\/Sirius-Stats\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">IK Sirius<\/a> in July 2016.<\/p>\n<p>After progressing through the Black Cats\u2019 youth ranks, the versatile forward made his debut in September 2018, coming on as a late substitute against Stoke City U21 in the EFL Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Kimpioka has made 14 first-team appearances in all competitions, scoring three goals, as well as starring for Sunderland in the Premier League 2.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Summer Re-Shuffle at Sunderland <\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>In returning for another season, Kimpioka joins a new-look Sunderland side following seven new arrivals at the club.<\/p>\n<p>Veteran striker <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/7d7bdee6\/Danny-Graham\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Danny Graham<\/a>, joining on a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/09\/07\/sunderland-sign-striker-danny-graham-for-a-second-time\/\" target=\"_self\">free transfer from Blackburn Rovers<\/a>, is one of the new faces at the Stadium of Light, alongside Australia international <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/4be70ecf\/Bailey-Wright\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bailey Wright<\/a> and forward <a href=\"https:\/\/fbref.com\/en\/players\/c5cc1b13\/Aiden-OBrien\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aiden O\u2019Brien.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Following an unbeaten start to the new season (two wins and one draw), Sunderland sit fifth in League One and travel to Charlton Athletic on Saturday hoping to continue their excellent form.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"PmU7k6whRuZ4jHPaO6NoXg\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1136744176\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'PmU7k6whRuZ4jHPaO6NoXg',sig:'i78qtsVDaUlQ6Rgwgqz4RAyE8nrd9N8Sh4dl0eZ_LEU=',w:'594px',h:'456px',items:'1136744176',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sunderland striker Benji Kimpioka has signed a new one-year contract to keep him at the club until summer 2021. The deal, which includes the option of a second year, marks the end of lengthy contract discussions between the Sweden under-20 international and Sunderland. Kimpioka made four appearances in League One last season, including scoring a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3531,"featured_media":567875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1369,32,34,30],"tags":[6714,168,188,35,723,37,136],"class_list":["post-567868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sunderland-league-football","category-league-football","category-league12","category-news","tag-benji-kimpioka","tag-efl","tag-league-one","tag-sunderland","tag-sweden","tag-transfers","tag-world-football"],"modified_by":"Dale Ventham, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3531"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}