Sunderland do not want to lose Danny Rose back to parent club Tottenham.

The 22-year-old has been sensational in his five months on Wearside but O'Neill has not opened talks about making that deal permanent.

He said: 'Spurs do have the ability to recall in January if that's the case so be it. We will just try and enjoy him. He is very pleased with his performances and enjoying it immensely and the reaction of crowd suggests they like him too.

"He has played very well and he is enjoying it. Since he arrived up here, in terms of fitness he is getting there, and he has played the most consecutive number of games which is great for him and the crowd have enjoyed his game.

"You can see he has talent but what he needed was a run of games and he played in run of games at the end of last season. He was competing against Assou-Ekoto at Spurs so it will be difficult for him.

"There are parts he needs to improve on, defensively particularly but dealing one-on-one you always feel he is going to get upper hand. He is very very strong and he is enjoying it and he has been terrific here.

"There are parts of the game he agrees he can do better with but he really has been excellent taking on extra responsibility going forward and not just a case as full-back of getting ball and playing it but supporting as well and he is prepared to do things about the game itself.

"The main reason is he is capable of doing that is because he has talent not just defensively. He is happier to give the ball than I think he was initially because he said himself he didn't have the same confidence that maybe comes from being in the under 21s but he has gained that and he is doing well."