O'Neill: No McFadden Talks Yet

Martin O'Neill today provided an update on trialist midfielder-come-striker James McFadden, but insisted no deal was imminent for the Scottish international.

McFadden has been training at the Academy of Light for a number of days now, with O'Neill telling the Sunderland Echo about the former Everton man;

He's been here for a few days. He has no club, is out-of-contract and he's been training for some time with Motherwell just to get himself fit.

We'll see. There's been no promises made on either side. After a day or two working with me, he may not fancy it!

He's a very decent footballer, but he was allowed to leave Everton. They must have felt they had enough in those positions. We've perhaps got a smaller squad so he's definitely worth looking at.

As we mentioned on this site yesterday, there's no real need to rush any deal for McFadden as it doesn't seem as though there are a huge amount of options open to him. If we get him he'd be capable back-up, although you wouldn't want to rely on him particularly.

If the worst was to happen to James McClean - who presumably McFadden would be backing up - I'd much rather we moved Adam Johnson out to the left, or alternatively in a push went with the options of Rose or Colback (in a 4-4-2), or even if we fancied a risk Billy Knott or Ji Dong-Won (in a 4-2-3-1).

This isn't to say he'd be bad, nor are we here against the signing, this is merely one writers opinion.

The same paper also report that we also had another trialist last week in Radbu Afolabi. A 32-year old Nigerian central defender, recently released by Ligue 2 side Monaco.

Any number of trailists pass through the doors of the Academy of Light on a regular basis, so we should really just sit tight and wait and see what happens.

There's currently room for Sunderland to add up to four senior players as only 21 are currently registered in accordance with the Premier League rules.