Sunderland defender Modibo Diakite, currently on loan at Serie A side Fiorentina, has apparently expressed his wish to stay in Italy according to his agent.
Speaking yesterday to Italian radio station RadioBlu he said;
He has a very good relationship with the coach so there are no problems. We have a verbal agreement to discuss Mobido's future after the Coppa Italia final.
Fiorentina don't have the automatic right to make the deal permanent in the terms of the loan but a lot will depend on Sunderland who are fighting to stay up. The player wants to stay with the Viola.
At the end of the day, who can really blame him? Sunderland are in free fall and Diakite was never more than a bit-part player here, despite a small handful of decent performances.
Might he be a better option than John O'Shea or Santiago Vergini at the moment? Probably, but then again so would a plank of wood.
It's unlikely Diakite will ever return to Wearside to do anything other than sell his house and collect his things as a mass exodus this summer is on the cards.