current bun

Alfred N'Diaye is on the verge of a Sunderland exit after Turkish club Eskiehirspor announced they were in talks with the midfielder. Reports on Friday claimed the Frenchman, signed from Bursaspor for £3.7million, was the subject of serious interest from Turkey again and the Black Cats were happy to let him stay behind from their summer tour to Hong Kong in order to sort out his future. The 23-year-old also became a father over the weekend, so would have been unlikely to travel to the Far East anyway, but Eskiehirspor are seemingly close to landing him. Their vice-president, Mehmet Akman, is quoted in the Gazette as saying talks with Sunderland over N'Diaye are at an advanced stage and they are confident a deal will be done, with a loan move the more probable outcome with a view to a permanent switch in 12 months' time. "We have started negotiations with N'Diaye and currently talks are progressing in a smooth way," said Akman. "We believe that this transfer will take place." Besiktas are also interested in N'Diaye but it appears Eskiehirspor are the front runners for his services and a move back to Turkey just six months after his arrival at the Stadium of Light now looks likely. Meanwhile, Greek side Panathinaikos still expect Charis Mavrias to join Sunderland in the next week after the two clubs agreed a fee for the winger, in the region of £2.5million, a couple of weeks ago. The transfer has dragged on but boss Paolo Di Canio's extensive summer rebuilding is set to continue with the Greece international expected for a medical on Wearside in the next couple of days.


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Crystal Palace expected to make move for Sunderland duo Connor Wickham and David Vaughan ‪#‎SAFC‬ @SunderlandAFC11



Sunderland clearout set to gather pace

Sunderland boss Paolo Di Canio
By Stuart Rayner | 22 Jul 2013 07:33
With nine players already signed, Sunderland’s focus will switch to sales as they look to make space for yet more new faces.

The Black Cats have almost signed an entire new team, with negotiations ongoing for a number of other players.

However, only Simon Mignolet and Ahmed Elmohamady have been sold so far and coach Paolo Di Canio admits he may be reaching the limit of what he can ask the board for.

He said as Sunderland arrived in Hong Kong for the Asia Trophy. “We know – the board knows – we need something more, but I don’t know if it’s possible at the moment. We have already made good signings and the club has made sacrifices in some ways, they have spent some money.

“So I am happy but it would be better to bring in one or two other players. We will see what happens.”

Sunderland owner Ellis Short is one of the Premier League’s leading advocates of financial fair play and will want to see Di Canio and director of football Roberto Di Fanti at least go some way towards practicing what he preaches as they overhaul the squad.

Mignolet – one of the few Di Canio did not want to sell this summer – joined Liverpool for

£9m, while Elmohamady making his loan spell at Hull City permanent was widely expected and brought in another £2m. Danny Graham followed the Egyptian to East Yorkshire, but only on loan.

Titus Bramble and Matt Kigallon have been released along with a number of youngsters, the most high-profile being Ryan Noble. However, it still has not offset the outlay on incoming players.

Phil Bardsley and Lee Cattermole have been told to find new clubs after Di Canio decided against taking them to South East Asia, where Sunderland play Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday and Manchester City or South China on Saturday.

However, with the exception of the recent additions, nobody in the squad can take his place for granted. There are question marks over at least eight.

David Vaughan is interesting Crystal Palace, Bursaspor are looking at January signing Alfred N’Diaye and Lazio have been credited with an interest in Sebastian Larsson, while there were reports at the weekend of Premier League interest in Craig Gardner.

The versatile Gardner has a year left on his contract and became something of a cult figure with Sunderland fans when he sat with them at last season’s Tyne-Wear derby.

However, the reason Gardner was there was because he was serving the first of two suspensions in the closing week of the season, indiscipline which did not endear him to the new coach. With Napoli striker Lorenzo Insigne’s agent claiming a bid has been lodged for his client, the forward line looks vulnerable too.

Having signed who he recently called “one of the top strikers in Europe” in Jozy Altidore to partner Steven Fletcher, Sunderland are looking to move on Stephane Sessegnon, who has never really settled in the North East, and hope Ji Dong-Won’s form on loan in last season’s Bundesliga leads to a permanent move.

Connor Wickham’s future is also in question after stinging criticism from Di Canio in May.

Asked about another move for a player he took on loan last season, Sheffield Wednesday manager Dave Jones responded: “It is something we would be interested in if it came around, but it is far too early to even contemplate it.”

Di Canio is a big fan of Jack Colback, but the midfielder has rejected a new contract.

Some of those who leave are bound to feel done-by and Noble has expressed his frustration after joining Burnley.

A product of the club’s academy, the 22-year-old striker made only five substitute appearances for his local club in the Premier League.

He said: “I felt I did all I could at Sunderland. I scored a number of goals in the reserves and was working hard in training. I just couldn’t get the break.

“There was a point when there were no fit strikers at the club but I was sat there wondering when my time was going to come. I guess my face didn’t fit.”

 

Alfie and DG were the last two in before the new recruitment team stepped in. DG gone and Alfie on his way? I think it could be Ellis looking at the wages he shelled out for them. Let's face it, we've been stupid with wages, Ellis could be undoing some mistakes.

 

He could be but this could be bad news, yes we've brought in 9 but selling everyone cant be a good thing, i'm worried by this, although i dont we'll let anybody go until we have replacements, or i bloody well hope so

 

i understand that we have to do things differently going forward. previous managers have took the piss with contracts and players have been getting massive wages that they no way deserved. that being said i think we need to keep the better players we have and add to that. if its a case of every player has his price thats fine, but we should'nt be pushing good players out the door

 

A loan with a view to buy is not ideal and it is actually a shame to lose the lad as he has shown some promise and improvement in his game, cant hit a barn door mind haha

I would happily recoup the £3.8 million but we need a replacement and with only 4 weeks until the start of the season you want to avoid dismantling the squad this close to the start.

 

i like alfie and think there is a lot more to come from him. i would keep him and give him a chance. he's, big, strong and mobile definatly worth another season for me

 

Ill be hacked of if Alfie leaves on loan. He'd be in my starting 11

 

Seems a bit of a strange transfer IMO. Unless of course he hasn't settled in well here. Don't agree with loaning out players either, if we're going to get rid of them and they aren't wanted then get rid of them, don't just have them back in 12 months time, especially if it is a problem with settling in the area.

 

We need to keep Alfie.

We need to move on

Vaughan
Bardsley
McClean

Graham needs to go after his loan if not before.
Loan out Wickham for a full season.

The rest I would like us to keep & give Ji a chance.

If Peruzzi & Marious (The greek lad) signs we still need a LB, CM & another forward

 

I want him to stay but seeing what he's on could change my mind. It is a worrying situation though I agree.

 

Lazy journalism why would we clear that many of our squad when the squad was paper thin? Catts be told he can move on when he isn't even fit I thought that was why he hadn't travelled!

 

It was questioned the other day why Ji was in the same hotel as the new signings. He has given up his house and I'm told he'll be gone within a fortnight. He expects to be gone anyway.

 

**** me you talk sense for once LOL I'm getting sick of the same rubbish everyday. I tell you the list of players what will leave tho, Bardsley, Vaughan, McClean & Ji. thats my opinion.

 

I thought Ji was put in shared accommodation with Korean students to help him settle.

 

is that through the Uni. possibly, are they on holiday at the moment? Would't have thought they would kick him out in case he trashed the place while they we away. or maybe he couldn't afford it. Either way, just what I was told.

 

Don't know fella, think it might be through the uni. But that might have come to an end when he went on loan. Maybe he's been staying at the hotel since he returned to the club and will stay there until his future is sorted? Students work on tenancy agreements like any other rent so I suppose whether it was shared is irrelevant anyway.

 

Wages are the biggest problem at a guess - It's gutting as Alfie is a class act and would be one of the first names I wrote on the back of my Benson & Hedges tab packet! (Possibly wasted on anyone who hasn't seen Mike Bassett: England Manager)

If it is down to the wages and he is not willing to negotiate a longer contract on smaller wages then he has to go unfortunately. I think he was going to be a big big player for us this season. Gutted if he leaves

I love the term "But only on loan" (Re Danny Graham) - Loan deals bring in a fee and always have - chances are it's only half a million or so but guaranteed that Hull will have paid something to loan his services for the season - what sort of business lends items out without asking for money??

 

I don't believe for a split second that Ellis sanctioned silly wages on a relative unknown from the Turkish league 6 months ago.

The daft contracts were handed out by Drumaville, bar Wes Browns, not under Ellis ownership.

More likely the lad doesn't like the cold or some ****e, and if that's the case then so be it.

If it's a case of Di Canio doesn't fancy the lad, i think he's making a grave error of judgement on this one.

 

Apparently he has a knock but only has 1 year left on his contract and will be sold