BOUDEWIJN Zenden will make his final Sunderland appearance at Upton Park on Sunday, with John Mensah set to follow him out of the Stadium of Light.

Zenden told manager Steve Bruce on Thursday he was rejecting a new contract. The 1998 World Cup semi-finalist is unhappy at the amount of football he has played this season, particularly as injuries have mounted.

On Saturday Zenden made only his ninth start this season – there have been 16 substitute appearances.

After Stéphane Sessègnon he was Sunderland’s best player, almost adding to his opening goal of the campaign the previous week when he struck the woodwork, and very nearly providing Ryan Noble’s first goal in senior football.

Zenden is Sunderland’s club captain, and Bruce values highly the experience accumulated at PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Chelsea, Liverpool, Middlesbrough and Marseilles.

But the 34-year-old is frustrated at being seen – in his eyes – as an extension of the coaching staff, rather than a valuable asset on the field.

Mensah’s petulance during Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers may have sealed his fate.

The defender is on a second season-long loan from Lyon and performances have not met the standards set in his first. He played his part in another inept defensive performance, and barely left the ground as Steven Fletcher headed Wolves’ second goal.

Substituted in the 87th minute to allow 18-year-old Louis Laing a Premier League debut, Mensah stormed down the tunnel.

“He has good right to be disappointed, I was disappointed in his second-half performance,” Bruce commented. “He is understandably upset and didn’t want to come off. We will deal with it.

“He has total disappointment in himself which happens in the heat of the moment is actions he has let himself down badly, but he is a highly reputable man.”