John O’Shea family arrival holds up transfer talks

John O’Shea family arrival holds up transfer talks
by Stuart Rayner, The Journal
Jul 6 2011

NIALL Quinn has revealed Sunderland are more confident of signing John O’Shea than Darron Gibson, but that their pursuit of the versatile Irishman has been held up by domestic issues.

The Black Cats had a combined £12m bid for the pair, and Manchester United club-mate Wes Brown, accepted at the start of June. Initially it seemed Gibson was the most likely to move to the Stadium of Light, with the midfielder publicly voicing his enthusiasm for the move. “If it came to it, I would love to play for Steve Bruce,” he said in mid-June.

But despite rival interest reported from Stoke City and Arsenal, O’Shea’s is now the deal Sunderland are most confident on.

It took a back seat last week because while Sunderland were busy pushing through the signings of Connor Wickham, Ji Dong-Won and Craig Gardner, O’Shea’s wife Yvonne was giving birth.

Now, though, with the Republic of Ireland international back in training, chairman Quinn is hopefully of completing the move.

“We are in there trying hard for John and will see if something can unravel,” he said. “We feel it is getting closer. John had good family news in the last few days with the birth of his child. We’ve had to back off, which is only correct. But the players are back in and we will see if something can unravel.”

O’Shea has made almost 400 appearances for the Red Devils. He played in their first European Cup final defeat to Barcelona, in 2009, but did not make the bench for May’s rematch.

The 30-year-old has played across the back line and in midfield for Sir Alex Ferguson, but it is in defence where Sunderland’s needs are the greatest, having had an otherwise extremely positive summer recruitment drive.

Although Gardner’s arrival from Birmingham City for an initial fee of £4.5m has addressed the major concern of goals from midfield, the Black Cats’ offer for 23-year-old Gibson remains on the table. With Newcastle United now reported to be showing an interest, Quinn is less optimistic a deal can be struck.

“That one is a little bit further away,” he added. “We would certainly still like it to happen, but we will have to see.”

With Sunderland’s players back for pre-season training today, Bruce may have to brace himself for an unwanted meeting with club record signing Asamoah Gyan (pictured left).

The £13m Ghana striker had an encouraging debut season, scoring 11 goals.

It led to speculation about a move to a “bigger” club, with Tottenham Hotspur’s name frequently mentioned. Although Gyan was quoted a fortnight ago as saying: “I am fully committed to Sunderland because I love the institution and traditions of this club,” his agent Fabien Pivateau has cast doubt on that, claiming there is a bid on the table for his 25-year-old client.

“I can’t say if he is staying or not,” said Pivateau.

“As far as I know one club has tabled an offer. He is returning to the club for pre-season and we will sit down with the coach to talk about it.”

Losing Gyan would be a massive blow to Sunderland, who have already reluctantly waved goodbye to Darren Bent and Jordan Henderson for eight-figure transfer fees in 2011. The club are certain to resist any attempts to take Gyan, but much will rest on the centre-forward’s attitude.

Bruce showed with Bent and Henderson he is not prepared to keep players determined to leave, but will be hoping Gyan’s comments are more representative of his mood than his agent’s.

Meanwhile, Sunderland goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s time at the Under-17s World Cup is over after England’s traditional quarter-final defeat to Germany.

Trailing 3-0, the Three Lions pulled the score back to 3-2, but were unable to force extra-time.


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