Paolo Di Canio has cancelled Sunderland players' early summer break after fining seven stars in just five days.

The Sunderland players were ready to fly back to their hometowns after a Wigans relegation that saw them regain their Premier League status last week. But Di Canio stopped those plans as soon as he could, causing flights to be cancelled and insisted they come for traning to get ready for the next season.

The boss said: "It is crucial for me to see what happens on Sunday, then I will decide when the players can go on holiday.

"They will come back for a couple of days next week. I don't see professionalism if we fly down together on Saturday and then on Sunday they fly here and there. You can imagine their approach if that happens. Imagine we say, 'From London you can fly where you want, Malta, Cyprus...' It's not serious," added the Italian.

"They will be packing their bags now, and an hour before the end of the game they will be thinking we are off soon. They have 44 days' holidays. The minimum I am obliged to give them is 28, four weeks - 44 days is incredible. They have already had 100 days, probably!"

"I don't want to say 28, because for the modern football generation they will say, 'This is too tough', but 35 or 38? So we will fly back together and say thank you to everyone. We could have some fun together, maybe some games and little tournaments, and then they can go on holiday."

"If anybody has booked a holiday for Monday, they are going to lose some money. Why would they book a holiday on Monday? They are not being serious. They have to ask me. If they did it, it is wrong. If somebody gave them a chance to organise a holiday in January or February, it is wrong - they will lose 50% on their flights. I will see what happens on Sunday, then we will come back together, and I will tell them when their holidays start."