Sunderland are enjoying a magnificent start to the season on their return to the Premier League and no-one is as apparently giddy as Wes Brown, who genuinely believes their form fill be enough to “attract” a £70m Barcelona midfielder.
And having taken note of a hugely speculative report claiming Sunderland are preparing to pay Barcelona €80m [£70m] to trigger Fermin Lopez’s release clause, Brown thinks the Spain international would welcome a move to North East England from Catalonia
And yet “there’s no reason why” he wouldn’t move to Sunderland.
“Sunderland have had a brilliant start to the season; there’s some great characters in that team,” Brown told BetWright casino. “I don’t think that anyone would have expected it, maybe some of the Sunderland fans but you can just see the togetherness in the group.
“I saw Fermin Lopez linked to the club for 80 million, it’s a lot of money! But do you know what? They’re capable of attracting a player like that, if you’re still flying in the league, you might start thinking that you can secure a certain player.
“If it’s a player that isn’t happy with their current situation and they want to come to the Premier League, there’s no reason why a player like Lopez wouldn’t take that chance if Sunderland continue this level of form.”