Sunderland appear to have dropped their interest in Cristian Rodriguez but are pressing ahead in their pursuit of Max Clayton.
News had emerged from Uruguay in the last few days that suggested Sunderland were close to tying up a deal that would bring Uruguay international Cristian Rodriguez to the Stadium of Light. The reports had come from news outlets owned by the player's agent Paco Casal and with Gus Poyet confirming we were in discussions for the player, this is one transfer that looked very possible.
However it appears as if the move for Rodriguez is completely dead, with reports in the local newspapers claiming the player will move elsewhere rather than Sunderland should he leave Atletico Madrid, leaving Poyet with no option but to look elsewhere.
Poyet had seemed very keen on signing the player, with our head coach going as far to say he would love the player on his team but with our hopes of signing the 28-year-old over it leaves Sunderland with an uphill task to add that extra bit of quality in midfield that we are crying out for.
Meanwhile Crewe manager Steve Davis has confirmed that his club and Sunderland are still in discussions over the transfer of Max Clayton.
Clayton has spent the last few weeks on trial at Sunderland as he looks to earn a contract with the club. The player, who turns 20 in just over a week, is out-of-contract at Crewe but Sunderland will hope to agree a deal with Crewe rather than seeing the potential transfer going to a tribunal.
Davis says the negotiations are being left to Crewe's chairman John Bowler, and Finance Operations Manager Andy Blakemore as the two clubs look to trash out a deal;
The Max one is very difficult for me to talk about at the moment as I'm not too sure of the situation, that's been left in the hands of John and Andy.
As far as I know they are still negotiating with Sunderland so that's as much as I can say at the moment.
Clayton has played twice for Sunderland during their pre-season preparations, against Darlington and Hartlepool and appears to have done enough to convince Poyet to add him to his squad.
