O'Neill lines up £5m January swoop for Dawson to shore up Sunderland defence By ADAM SHERGOLD PUBLISHED: 11:31 GMT, 9 December 2012 | UPDATED: 11:58 GMT, 9 December 2012 Comments (3) Share Martin O'Neill is preparing a £5m January pursuit of Tottenham defender Michael Dawson as part of a spending spree to revive Sunderland's flagging season. The Black Cats boss will be given significant funds by club owner Ellis Short in a bid to correct a poor start to the season. And 29-year-old Dawson is top of the list, according to the Sunday People. On the move? Sunderland are reportedly lining up a £5m January move for Tottenham defender Michael Dawson Sunderland find themselves in the relegation zone, with just two wins and 13 points to their name so far. Their defensive record hasn't been too catastrophic - with 21 goals conceded - but O'Neill believes Dawson's leadership qualities could add extra steel to the side. When Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas arrived in the summer, he was willing to offload Dawson and a £5.5m fee was agreed with Queens Park Rangers before the player turned it down. Reinforcements: Sunderland manager Martin O'Neill wants to firm up a defence which has conceded 21 goals in 15 games this season, leaving the club 18th in the table However, Dawson, who has four England caps, has worked hard to win back his starting place in the last few weeks - making a January move less likely. Sunderland may face competition from QPR, with Harry Redknapp reportedly keen on signing a player with whom he enjoyed a good relationship at Spurs. Dawson has been at White Hart Lane since January 2005, when he joined for £8m from Nottingham Forest. if mon can get the best out of him and we stop leaking goals im all for it
I was all for getting him when he went from forrest to spurs, now though after not getting game time and i gather being injured, i am not so sure, I probably wouldnt pay 5 million either, and I read earlier the Brown is nearly fit so why do we need dawson.
Brown will need reserve game time to get up to speed, and our defense is leaking goals, Martin has probably decided a defenders for the chop, ie Titus
WIth steve on this one, a bit late for going for him imo. But there may be some truth in it, as we have had some bad defensive lapses lately.
we still have a month before the window opens though, and no one buys till the last week of it, so "if" brown is close, it should not take 2 months to get him up to speed. he is a good defender on his day, but 5 million seems steep to me.
all i meant Steve is he must be releasing some we alredy have and replacing with him as Brown is made of glass and probably wont last the rest of the season
I think brown is finished now. Dawson would be a good buy he is a good solid CB with PL experience. I just hope we sign a CM & another forward in Jan.
Lets hope we are keeping the signing's we are desperate for under wraps. With Brown, Killa, Bramble, O'Shea and Cuellar that position is notone of them.
Teams will know how desperate we are so we are gonna get shafted again on prices. Short has a choice, spend 20-30m in an effort to keep us up or risk losing 40-50m by getting relegated and that figure goes up if we ddnt come straight back up
FFS another f***ing hasbeen!!! Get a young forward thinking manager in with modern ideas. If this is all MON can come up with we are well and truly f***ed!!! Bart
Woah what a surprise! O'Neill looking at, british, british based, probably overpriced player as well.
Buying crap from supposed top teams is why we are in the ****e lads we should be looking for young hungry players who want to play and have something to prove Danny Rose is a prime example of that. As for Dawson I'd say no he isn't getting his game for a reason whether that's him being crap or crocked I'm not sure, either way no good for us.
Dawson is not a bad defender. Would have been much better if not for injuries (was he not Spurs captain??) 5 million is probably about right for him. If he can stay fit then you have done well.
not sure on him think we need to be more adventurous in the transfer window and look for young, hungry players (like Rose) or look abroad personally think Dawson is typical MoN who is predictable in the transfer market Dawson is not a bad defender but has concerns with injuries like our current bunch, slow like our current bunch and rubbish on the ball like our current bunch get the scouts out there and pick up a good, young ball playing cb with abit of pace and something to prove
