Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill is winning the race to sign striker Louis Saha. O'Neill hopes to tie up a deal for the experienced forward, who is a free-agent after spending the second half of last season at Tottenham having ended a three-year spell with Everton. The Frenchman also played for Sunderland's bitter rivals Newcastle early in his career, but that will not be held against him by O'Neill, who wants to bring in proven players on a tight budget. The much-travelled striker, who recently revealed how Sven Goran Eriksson wanted him to play for England, has had trouble with injuries, but O'Neill is more interested in his ability to finish - a knack his side lacked last season. O'Neill faces competition from a handful of foreign clubs, including a wealthy Middle Eastern outfit, but is optimistic of landing the 33-year-old. Saha, who has also played for Manchester United and Fulham, would play on in the Premier League if the deal is right.
TWO South American clubs are battling for the services of Sunderland’s unwanted Argentine international Marcos Angeleri. The 29-year-old wants out of England after a miserable couple of years in which he has made a handful of appearances and it looked last month as though Argentine side Independiente would give him the escape route he craved. But now it appears as though he could rejoin former club Estudiantes after spending time training with them and the two rival clubs are set to hammer it out for the suddenly in-demand defender’s signature over the next few days. Sunderland will not mind which club Angeleri joins, and would also find a loan move in the last year of his contract at the Stadium of Light acceptable – just so long as they get him off the wage bill. Manager Martin O’Neill has a firm idea of who he wants to bring in this summer, but his budget remains flexible and can be influenced by who he lets go and who he sells, so reducing unnecessary squad expenditure can only help. Nine players were released at the end of the season, the most notable being former £9million signing Craig Gordon. Gordon’s weekly wage was among the very biggest at the club – more than the other eight released players put together – and Angeleri, too, is on a handsome salary. These things are often disregarded by the fans, but the wages can matter immensely in terms of giving managers more or less latitude to manoeuvre in the transfer market. And Angeleri’s impending departure – just like those of Paraguayans Cristian Riveros and Paulo Da Silva from Steve Bruce’s ill-fated South American excursions – will be of benefit to Sunderland. Estudiantes appear to be winning the battle to sign the 29-year-old right-back after he was spotted training with his former team-mates in the city of La Plata, where the club is based. “It’s true, I have spoken to Estudiantes,” he said. “It is important, and it is good for me, to know that big clubs such as Estudiantes and Independiente are looking at me. “We’ll see how things go.” This weekend, Estudiantes will say goodbye to club legend Juan Sebastian Veron – who spent six years in England with Manchester United and Chelsea – the 37-year-old set to play his final game of the season on Sunday. And reports in Argentina suggest Angeleri’s return could be announced as part of the events planned around Veron’s retirement. Such plans might be overly-ambitious, with negotiations between Estudiantes and Sunderland’s representative in South America far from complete, but Veron’s departure will certainly leave more money available to the club. Despite that, Sunderland stand little chance of recouping any of the £1.5m Bruce spent bringing him to Sunderland in 2010. The Argentina international has endured a miserable time on Wearside, aggravating an old knee ligament injury within weeks of moving to England and quickly falling out of favour with Bruce. After making just three appearances in his first season at Sunderland, he was all set to join Estudiantes last summer, only for the deal to break down. Angeleri returned to Sunderland and underwent surgery in September to fix the knee problem that continued to dog him, spending much of last season undergoing rehabilitation. He is now fully fit but O’Neill revealed last month that Angeleri wanted to return to home.
Newcastle have entered the race for Manchester City’s John Guidetti. The 20-year-old striker, who scored 20 goals in 23 games while on loan at Feyenoord last season, was watched extensively by Sunderland last season.
I think, since the ways have been as long as i can remember supporting SAFC, the deals will remain quiet, and then from July 1st onwards, a couple of deals will have some light shed on them Recall last year where we got like 8 new signings in 5 days
A host of Premier League clubs are monitoring Osasuna ace Ibrahima Balde, Sky Sports understands. Senegalese forward Balde has been playing in Spain since 2008 when he joined Atletico Madrid. But he did not join Atletico from Africa, he came from Argentina - where he moved when he was 16. In South America he was quickly spotted and spent time with Argentinos Juniors and Velez Sarsfield, before linking up with Atletico. After making the breakthrough at the Vicente Calderon, he spent time on loan with Numancia before joining Osasuna last summer. Impressed He played 22 times for the club, starting 13 games and he impressed with seven goals in La Liga. The Senegal striker also came to the fore when he scored for his country in their crucial Olympic qualifier against Oman at Coventry City. Now a number of sides are tracking the 6ft 2in target man and he could be set for a summer switch to England. "Ibrahima is a very impressive player and a number of clubs have expressed an interest," his British representative Chris Nathaniel told Sky Sports. Aston Villa, Sunderland, Norwich and Reading are believed to be amongst the clubs keen on Balde.
If we are winning the battle FOR Saha god knows what the losers will get, maybe 2 Sahas hope this is slack jawed journo talk he is crap injury prone and 33 FFS, leave well alone and please people don't come back with the old "he's free so would be a good deal" he's free for a reason his wages will be stupid.
we have still missed a trick not getting ryan nelson.... Saha whould be a decent 3rd/4th choice IMO but we need quality not quantity
No ambition, it's all about the reddies.. Nigeria striker Yakubu is due to arrive in China on Monday to seal a move to Guangzhou R&F. Officials from Guangzhou and Yakubu's representatives have been negotiating the deal. The Blackburn Rovers striker, who scored 17 league goals last season, is now poised to complete the deal in China. Yakubu admitted in May he was looking at his options after Blackburn's relelgation from the Premier League. Details of the deal have not been revealed but he will reportedly earn around £5.7m a year ($9m US). The 29-year-old will be following the footsteps of Didier Drogba by moving to China after the Ivory Coast captain joined Shanghai Shenghua last week.
Not at all... More daft rumours.. According to reports Sunderland are ready to make an offer for Blackburn Rovers midfielder Steven N’Zonzi. The Sunday Sun claims Black Cats boss Martin O’Neill has turned his attention to the French enforcer after missing out on Momo Diame, who joined West Ham United. N’Zonzi is understood to be looking to leave Rovers following their relegation from the Premier League. However, unlike out-of-contract Diame, the 23-year-old ex-France Under-21 international still has three years left on his contract
Now we can stop bleating about him thank fook. Tottenham have beaten Liverpool to the signing of Hoffenheim midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, who had a spell on loan at Swansea last season. The 22-year-old Iceland international is the first recruit for new Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas in a deal reported to be worth £8m. Sigurdsson had been linked with a move to join former Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool. He scored seven times in 19 games under his guidance on loan at the Welsh side. Sigurdsson was close to joining Swansea on a permanent basis before Rodgers opted to move to Anfield and the midfielder's £6.8m transfer to the Liberty Stadium collapsed. And Michael Laudrup, Rodgers' replacement at Swansea, conceded defeat last month in his efforts to resurrect a deal.
