Reports: Mangane Offer Confirmed, Possibly Rejected

Barely anyone had heard of him about 12 hours ago, but hot on the heels of the signing of Alfred N'Diaye it looks as though giant defender Abdou Kader Mangane is a very real possibility for Sunderland.

With reports filtering through earlier that a "serious offer" had been lodged for the Al-Hilal defender today, this was later confirmed by the Saudi club's official Twitter account, who said (when translated);

Abdulrahman bin Musa'ad: Today we got a bid from English Premier League club Sunderland for Mangane.

Musa'ad being the chairman of Al-Hilal, and thus quite obviously a man in the know.

However since that other reports have emerged. On the plus side they seem to further confirm a bid, and on the other it seems Al-Hilal aren't going to let him go for peanuts.

Al Nadi, a newspaper in Saudi Arabia, report that the initial first bid has been turned down, although a second bid is set to follow for the 29-year old within days.

Reports also suggest that Mangane is keen to come to the Premier League. Having previously been linked with Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United this summer he instead opted for a lucrative deal in the Middle East.

With interest growing in Mangane and an offer on the table from ourselves, Akhbaar24 report that the player has handed in a transfer request.

A defender is certainly something we need, and with Roland Juhasz' current destination unknown, we might as well make a contingency plan in the form of Mangane. Or just sign both, we're pretty short of defenders at the moment.