Well that`ll be another one knackered. They`ve produced so little over the last 5 years it`s ridiculous. I`m becoming very disillusioned with Ball & Co.
@JeremyPond: Would love to see @SAFCofficial go after Ãngel di MarÃa in the transfer window ... Altidore's agent know something we dont..?
SUNDERLAND are looking to sign Santiago Vergini permanently with Gus Poyet admitting the centre-half could be key to his plans of squad rebuilding this summer The 25-year-old joined Sunderland on loan from Argentine side Estudiantes in January, making 14 appearances in total and showing he was equally as comfortable at right-back as he was at centre-half. And it is that versatility which Poyet has identified as central to creating the right balance in his preferred squad. The Uruguayan explained: “In any squad, if we play 4-3-3 - my system - I like to have three goalkeepers and seven defenders, NOT eight,” “I want two players for place in the other positions, but not at the back - I like to use that extra player somewhere else, so you can have a squad of 23. “If one of the defenders can give you the option to play somewhere else, it helps you. “When you’ve got a centre-half who is only a centre-half, you need a full-back who can play both sides. “When you’ve got a centre-back who can play right-back, it gives you a big hand and I know Santiago can play there now. “I knew it, having watched him play right-back in Argentina, but he has also shown now he can do it well in the Premier League.” The recent departure of right-back Phil Bardsley to Stoke City has only enhanced the potential importance to a Sunderland squad which currently finds itself without an established full-back with Andrea Dossena having been released and Marcos Alonso and Ondrej Celustka having, like Vergini, finished their loans. The acquisition of utility man Vergini on a permanent deal would give Poyet scope to increase his first-team options elsewhere. And the loose arrangement made when he was was first signed in the January transfer window was that a permanent deal would be looked at if Sunderland stayed up and Vergini showed he could perform in English football. Both those criteria have been met. But Poyet says that while he hopes Vergini will consider committing his future to Sunderland, it is not something that can be taken for granted. “It’s something to analyse,” he told the Echo. “Every situation is different. “We just have to see what happens, we don’t know if he’s got an offer elsewhere.”
SEB Larsson might prove to be the only one of eight out-of-contract Sunderland players who re-signs for the club. Of the eight players whose deals will expire next month, Phil Bardsley, Carlos Cuellar, Craig Gardner, Keiren Westwood, Oscar Ustari and Andrea Dossena have already moved on. That leaves just Larsson and Jack Colback with potential Sunderland futures still to resolve. Colback’s situation is complicated, with the club having made him a vastly improved offer compared to the derisory rise that Director of Football Roberto De Fanti put on the table last summer. And Sunderland’s original poor handling of Colback’s case has seen his contract wind down and more than a dozen clubs express an interest in what the 24-year-old midfielder does next. Newly-married Colback plans to spend some time away before deciding what to do next but there have been suggestions that the chances of him staying on Wearside are slim. Far more likely at this point is that Sunderland will be able to hang on to Larsson who has revealed that he is considering staying on Wearside. Initial talks with the club have been productive but Larsson wants to be more involved as a winger - the position he has always felt is his strongest - rather than as a central midfielder. And he wants to make sure he has a firm part in the club’s future plans as someone in and around the starting 11, rather than as a general squad player. Several Premier League clubs have shown an interest in the Swedish international but the 28-year-old says he has been happy on Wearside and never saw the end of his contract as a chance to leave the North East.. “I’ve never closed the door,” he said. “It depends on what the conversations provide, what the club want and I want. “We’ve had a turbulent two years, but purely socially and in terms of football it has been a good place to be even though it’s been up and down. “But that does not mean I have signed for them.” Although German side Borussia Monchengladbach have reportedly shown an interest, Larsson plans to stay in English football - be it at Sunderland or elsewhere. He said: “I have been in England a long time and I feel incredibly good in England. “We thrive socially and in terms of football, I will say it again - overall, it is the best and most exciting league in the world, I think. “Thinking about leaving if there is a chance to stay would be pretty difficult. “But I’m still open. “We look at the options available and will pick out the one that feels best.”
Sunderland are in talks with Wigan free agent Jordi Gomez – after signing West Brom right-back Billy Jones to replace Phil Bardsley. The Black Cats made their first signing of the summer yesterday, swooping for Albion’s out-of-contract utility man Jones on a four-year contract. It was the first sign of Gustavo Poyet, who yesterday ended speculation over his own future by signing a new two-year contract, stamping his mark on the squad and he has recruited an attack-minded right-back to replace Bardsley. Now the indications are that he wants to swoop for Gomez, who has raised interest from Everton and abroad. The 28-year-old has been at Wigan for five years and the Latics have offered him a new deal but Sunderland are among a number of clubs who have contacted the player, sources close to Gomez have revealed. Poyet ended speculation linking him with Southampton after Mauricio Pocchetino left to join Tottenham Hotspur by signing a contract which will keep him at the Stadium of Light until 2016, and last night confirmed he is relishing the next stage of his career at Sunderland. “We achieved so much last season, working together – the club and the fans – and we took many good memories from the season,” said the Uruguayan. “The prospect of creating more of those memories is one which excites me, and now I cannot wait for the next chapter in my career and the history of Sunderland AFC.” He moved quickly to take Jones from the Hawthorns, where he has been since 2011 and signing for the club in the Roy Hodgson era. The player said he was sold on Sunderland’s ambitions. “I’m signing for a massive club with everything in place to move up the league,” he told Sunderland’s official website. “I feel that the age I am now it’s time to kick on now. I know I can play at this level and play consistently well at this level and I feel the next four years should be the best football I play in this league. That’s what I expect and I’m sure that’s what the gaffer expects as well.” Jones, it would appear, has been recruited for his attacking ability. “I’m proud to keep clean sheets but I feel that I’ve improved offensively and from speaking to the gaffer and the way he wants to play the game it should be a good match,” he said. “I just hope to be solid, but from a personal point of view I hope to get some assists as well.”
A striker described by his agent Willie McKay as ‘one of the best free agents in Europe at the moment’, Bafetimbi Gomis has flown into London with West Ham, Sunderland and Swansea all understood to be interested in securing his services. ‘Baby Drogba’, as he was known in his younger days, signed off his Lyon career with a 16-goal Ligue 1-haul that put him second only to Paris Saint-Germain’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the French scoring stakes. However, while the prospect of getting a proficient striker for nothing is sure to allure the parsimonious Irons purse-string holders especially, Gomis’ is a career in plateau. His Premier League suitors would be far better served in wooing Bordeaux’s Cheick Diabate (the 12-goal Malian striker, not the Grammy-nominated Ngoni musician). The latter may not have matched Gomis for strikes last term, but whereas the former-Lyon man took 29 starts and a further four introductions from the bench to net his tally, Diabate harvested his in a mere 17 outings from the off and eight mid-match introductions. Indeed the only man in Ligue 1 to have bagged more than ten goals at a better minutes per strike ratio than Diabate was the great Zlatan himself. The Newcastle Journal understand that Bordeaux have offered the 26-year-old to Newcastle already for a fee in the region of £6m, while Arsenal have also been credited with an interest in the striker this term. West Ham are an intriguingly-priced 5/1 shot for relegation for the Premier League in 2014/15 and before they consider signing Gomis they would be advised to ponder the spectre of QPR’s doom-laden 2012/13 demotion campaign. Mark Hughes drafted in several senior professionals from more illustrious employers that season and ended up with a fractious, demotivated squad, unwilling to take the blame for their collective failings. Having played six straight campaigns of continental football with first St-Etienne, then Les Gones, Gomis could well be another disenchanted journeyman waiting to happen. Diabate, on the other hand, has just enjoyed the finest campaign of his career and still has much to prove. - See more at: http://bwinbetting.com/leagues/prem...chine-sights,55356.html?#sthash.RsG3ntcD.dpuf
Sunderland are keeping a close eye on Cagliari midfielder Daniele Dessena and could make a move this summer, according to sources in Italy. The Black Cats already have Italians Emanuele Giaccherini and Vito Mannone in their ranks and have good scouting links in the peninsula. According to Italian press reports, Sunderland have asked Cagliari about the availability of Dessena, looking to take advantage of a summer of turbulence in Sardinia. Cagliari are in the process of changing owners from Massimo Cellino, who bought Leeds United, to an American group and a number of players may leave. It had been suggested that Dessena may be on his way to Leeds this summer, but nothing has happened yet. And Sunderland could come in and take the lead in the race to sign Dessena, who is unsettled at present. Dessena was an Italian Under-21 international and much was expected of him for the future but he was somewhat eclipsed by Juventus star Claudio Marchisio. SEE ALSO: Giaccherini: I want to stay at Sunderland Now 27, Dessena was a regular for Cagliari last season and made 34 appearances without finding the net. He was the victim of an unsavoury incident last season when he supported an anti-homophobia campaign by wearing rainbow laces but was met with abuse by some supporters.
Despite only having signed for Sunderland last summer from IFK Gothenburg, David Moberg Karlsson looks to be heading to the exit at the Stadium of Light. According to his agent Per Jonsson (who also represents Seb Larsson), the Swedish winger is looking to leave Sunderland for pastures new on a permanent basis; What David wants is to find a club that would have him as they see him as the offensive player he is. The problem lies in that Sunderland must take a loss. They do not want to sale him out. Of course he is expensive. Exactly what he's worth, I would not go into. But if you buy a sofa for 10,000 Krona you do not put it out for 300 Krona a few weeks later. The thing is that everything is in Sunderland's hands. We talk to them all the time, pretty much every other day, with Sebastan (Larsson) and David. It can get a loan, but we're not so keen on it. If a loaned player does not join right from the beginning, the club would rather bet on their own. I do not think David wants to be loaned again. We want to find a permanent solution so David gets peace and quiet for a while. Although Moberg Karlsson would prefer a move to Serie A, Jonsson says that will be difficult due to his lack of playing time but agrees that he needs to move to a league with more time and space; Of course he decides, he's saying he wants lira. However it is like no Italian club, batting at David when they have not seen him play senior football. [He needs] A league where he gets space, which play a football that suits him. Moberg Karlsson impressed in pre-season for Sunderland, as he scored in the Premier League Asia Trophy win over Tottenham Hotspur but then struggled to make an impression once the season started. Due to the lack of playing time in the first half of the season, the 20-year-old was sent out on loan in January to SPL side Kilmarnock but again struggled for playing time, with the winger only making two starts in his time in Scotland. The winger cost around £1.5m when he signed from Gothenburg and it seems unlikely that the club will get their money back on a player who has struggled to make the step up from the Swedish top flight.
Jordi gomez terms agreed according to tw@tter 44 minutes ago We have had it confirmed to us that Jordi Gomez from Wigan is now in talks with SAFC about a move. Also transpires he has the same agent as jordon mutch
http://www.wearewearside.com/post/2014/05/29/Update-Two-Strikers-Two-Midfielders-Keeper-Linked.aspx Seems it is all 'hotting up' !?!?
