I'm not sure. I was pretty angry the other day when I dropped a piece of firewood on my big toe. I got over it, didn't last all season.
I jumped to free as a "more likely" as its less likely to leak if its free. That's the only reason. Of course it could be anybody, but for Downie to say we will sign them in the next 24 hours they've probably already or are currently having a medical.
Understand what you're saying but it usually works in reverse for clubs like Sunderland (Rangers, Celtic, Liverpool etc) in that if a player is getting stick they end up being rallied around, made a sort of lightning rod within the fanbase for being treated unfairly, a martyr of sorts basically.
Regarding Zouma I was looking today at his career path again, some of his achievements. Hes had some amazing highs and some very low ebbs in the Prem. Title winner, CL winner, relegation, amongst bad periods at Everton and West Ham (despite their trophy win). Hes always been a part of it too.
Gotcha, I need the see the clip of what he said. Sadiki said he'd not heard anything from Sunderland until 2 days before it broke - we can have been moving very quickly on deals and are also getting good at keeping them out the media (specifically telling journalists not to and giving them exclusives)
Turkish press has inside track on Sunderland beating Bournemouth to a Chelsea players signing. Checks out.
We maybe have a better chance of keeping it quiet if it’s A) a free or B) a domestic transfer as we can control English media