The 29-year-old centre half has spent the last three months on loan at Home Park and the south coast club would like to make it permanent.

Anderson has returned to the North East after the completion of his Championship duties, expecting to discover his future this week.

And with the likelihood being that he will be allowed to leave if the right offer comes in, Plymouth want to be first in the queue for his signature.

Roy Keane signalled at the weekend that he is ready for a major restructuring of his squad this summer which he hopes will result in his squad being strong enough to avoid another relegation battle next season.

And he signalled that his first task will be to look at players out of contract and players returning from loan this week.

Anderson joined Sunderland in a £1 million deal last summer after establishing himself as one of Scotland's most reliable defenders over a decade spent with Aberdeen.

But he barely featured for Sunderland during the season as a result of being behind others in the pecking order and from suffering a serious ankle injury.

He made only two appearances for the Black Cats, both early in the season when he came on as a substitute in the 3-0 defeat at Wigan and conceded a penalty and also came on as a substitute in the 3-0 League Cup defeat to Luton Town.

He has subsequently shown himself a reliable performer at Championship level but with Sunderland looking to take things to the next level next season, and with Keane looking to clear the decks of squad players who have barely featured this season, Anderson's future on Wearside looks very much in doubt.

And the player himself confesses he has no idea where he will be playing his football next season.

He said: "I'm going back to Sunderland this week and we will just wait and see what happens. I have really got no idea at all, but I am sure it will become clearer over the course of the summer.

"I will have to speak to Sunderland and basically see what they are saying.

"The loan has been really good and it has given me games which I desperately needed.

"I would like to think I have contributed to the team in some way.

"The league table doesn't lie and usually at the end of the season you end up where you deserve.

"We have a top ten team but we are just falling short of being a top six side.

"Obviously there has been an improvement from previous years but Plymouth will have to try to carry that on next season."