The Gossip: Sunderland Move 'Appeals' To England Defender

Well, wasn't it worth it! Weeks and weeks of frustration and silence regarding significant transfer news and then Marty delivers Steven Fletcher and Adam Johnson in one day to get the party started - only for it to quite literally rain on our parade in true Sunderland fashion.

Not to worry, still a week to go so who knows what else Martin O'Neill has up his sleeve. If the press are to be believed, there is still some Sunderland spending to be done.

So - for the last time this summer - lets run through the transfer gossip! *tears up*

Steven Fletcher (Wolves)
Victor Moses (Wigan)
Stephen Ward (Wolves)
Aiden McGeady (Spartak Moscow)
Adam Johnson (Manchester City)
John Guidetti (Manchester City)
Wilifred Zaha (Crystal Palace)
Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa)
Karl Henry (Wolves)
Jay Rodriguez (Burnley)
Hassan Hissein (Foullah Edifice)
Manuel Fernandes (Besitkas)
Jorge Fucile (Porto)
Junior Hoilett (Blackburn Rovers)
Robert Huth (Stoke)
Liam Trotter (Millwall)
Mohamed Diame (Wigan)
Carlos Cuellar (Free Agent)
Steven N'Zonzi (Blackburn)
Bjorn Bergmann Sigurdarson (Lillestrom)
Grant Holt (Norwich)
Jese (Real Madrid Castilla)
Steven Pienaar (Tottenham)
Danny Guthrie (Newcastle)
Joselu (Real Madrid Castilla)
Matt Jarvis (Wolves)
Ryan Bertrand (Chelsea)
Matt Phillips (Blackpool)
Zak Whitbread (Free Agent)
Steven Warnock (Aston Villa)
Moussa Kone (Atalanta)
Ola John (FC Twente)
Pavel Pogrebnyak (Stuttgart)
Ola Toivonen (PSV)
Alvaro Vazquez (Espanyol)
Yoan Gouffran (Bordeaux)
Luis Saha (Free Agent)
Keith Andrews (Free Agent)
Abdou Kader Mangane (Rennes)
Ibrahima Balde (Osasuna)
Kevin Doyle (Wolves)
Kevin Mirallas (Olympiakos)
Burak Yilmaz (Trabzonspor)
Martin Olsson (Blackburn)
Siake Tiene (PSG)
Sylvain Armand (PSG)
Ricky van Wolfswinkel (Sporting Lisbon)
Ivan Ramis (Real Mallorca)
Vurnon Anita (Ajax)
Hugo Rodallega (Free Agent)
Nathenial Clyne (Crystal Palace)
Tongo Hamed Doumbia (Rennes)
Jermain Defoe (Tottenham)
James Collins (Aston Villa)
Vassilis Torosidis (Olympiakos)
Facundo Ferreyra (Banfield)
Arouna Kone (Levante)
Didier Ya Konan (Hannover)
Scott Sinclair (Swansea)
Peter Odemwingie (WBA)
Aly Cissokho (Lyon)
Scott Dann (Blackburn)
Ivan Strinic (Dnipro)
Dimitar Berbatov (Manchester United)
James Milner (Manchester City)
Danny Rose (Tottenham)
Michael Dawson (Tottenham)
Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham)
Jonas Olsson (WBA)
Clint Dempsey (Fulham)

So an additional 5 players this week taking our final total (as far as this feature is concerned) to 70, although it should be pointed out that many have failed our 'credible link' test along the way too. Of those 70 players linked, 4 have joined the club, giving the press a pretty dismal accuracy, so far, of around 6%. Or, to put it another way, around 94% of transfer 'news' this summer concerning Sunderland has led to absolutely nothing.

There is a bit of a North London theme to the new names this week with the Tottenham trio of Rose, Jenas, and Dawson mentioned. Rose and Jenas have been linked, albeit a little tenuously, with loan deals, but Michael Dawson is the one that stands out to us.

The England defender seemed set for a move across London to QPR early last week but that appears to have broken down with Hoops boss Mark Hughes claiming the deal was on the verge of collapse. The Mirror have since, pretty persistently, claimed that Dawson does not want the move, insisting instead that the 'only club that appeals' to him is Sunderland.

That story was written by John Cross, who is known to have some very good connections in North London. This morning, Brian McNally, a journalist with some very good North East connections, wrote that Martin O'Neill is about to make a move for Dawson.

It is a difficult one to gauge in many ways. On the one hand, Dawson is the archetypal Martin O'Neill centre back. He is a proven commodity, physically imposing, formidable in the air, and the lack of mobility that seems to be forcing him out of Spurs' plans would not be an issue considering O'Neill's deep and compact back line.

On the other hand, of course, it wouldn't be the first time Sunderland's name has been thrown into the fray for a Spurs player whose move is stalling. Earlier this summer, when Everton were dragging their heels a little over Steven Pienaar, suddenly 'Sky Sports understood' Sunderland wanted him. It could well be a simple case of Spurs circulating spurious stories to try and force QPR into pushing through a move.

Speaking of such shenanigans, lets touch upon the Clint Dempsey link. I am sure he is a player many clubs admire - Sunderland included - but it is difficult to see what he would really see in a move to Wearside right now. He has gone all out to get a move to Liverpool and they have declared an interest in him. At the age of 29, Fulham to Sunderland could look like too much of a sideways step for the American. One we'd certainly welcome, but it wouldn't surprise us one bit if our name/interest was being used to try and scare Liverpool into action.

Fingers crossed that next week is as fun for us in terms of transfers as last week was!