CRAIG Gardner has followed Carlos Cuellar and Andreas Dossena out of the exit door at Sunderland, the Echo can reveal. The former Birmingham City and Aston Villa midfielder has said his farewells to friends in the region and moved out of his house in the North East and accepts his three-year stay at the club is over. But Seb Larsson could well have a future on Wearside with the Swede still involved in talks which are expected to reach their conclusion this weekend. Both Gardner and Larsson joined from Birmingham City after the Bluesâ relegation in 2011, arriving within a week of each other - Gardner for a £6m fee, Larsson on a free. The pair were part of former Sunderland boss Steve Bruceâs last transfer window in charge which, just like the one last summer, saw a raft of new signings arrive but fail to gel quickly enough to save their managerâs job. The decision not to extend Gardnerâs stay at the Stadium of Light comes as no surprise to the player himself, who loved being at the club but realised the writing was on the wall when starts in games dried up. He made 77 appearances for Sunderland, scoring 14 goals, during his time at the club. This season he was involved in 26 games, scoring three goals, but was increasingly used as a substitute. He started just two games in 2014, both of them cup clashes, scoring in one of them - a trademark volley from range in the 1-0 win over Southampton in the FA Cup. Gardner will now take his summer break before contemplating his next move. But there is likely to be no shortage of clubs ready to offer him a fresh start with West Brom, credited with a long-standing interest in the Brummie, expected to lead the way. Larrssonâs fate, meanwhile, has yet to be decided. Sunderland are interested in brokering a new deal for a player who shone in Sunderlandâs Premier League survival mission, even though his clear preference is to play on the wing, rather than in the midfield engine room he has occupied this season. Clubs both at home and abroad are monitoring the Swedish internationalâs situation closely, but Sunderland have opened discussions and hope they will conclude successfully. The other players who are out of contract at Sunderland are Phil Bardsley, Keiren Westwood and Jack Colback.
Fair play to Gardner, he was a good pro and never moaned, scored some important goals for us too. I wish him every success in the future. I hope we keep Colback and Larsson but it would not be the end of the world if they left us. Borini and Alonso are the 2 players I want us to sign.
Borini would be a great signing but I won`t hold my breath on that one. Wasn`t there an option to buy with the Alonso loan?
I am not sure but lets hope so. For me Borini is a player we must try and get, we lost out big time on Welbeck and Rose when they left after their loan spells. Its time to learn from our mistakes.
Like what happened with Welbeck & Rose I think we have no chance in getting Borini permanently! All 3 have been victims of their own success as far as we are concerned! We may get Borini again on loan, but if he became available I can only see a bigger club coming in for him who can give him European football! Unless we break the bank for him......which we wont!!!
I am not so sure, its not like he scored a hat full of goals, he will not get in the first 11 in any of the top 6 sides, if he wants first team football it wont be with a side that's in Europe. I would like to see us at least make a bid 7m or something like that would be fair. Then its up to the player. Lets face it we spunked 14m on Fletcher, 8m on Wickham. Borini is young so we would get our money back in the future, its an investment not like when signing Brown or JOS.
**** em all. All the out of contract players can gan... Although Viergini may have potential.....the rest **** em.
