Report: Sunderland Target French Full-Back?

Highly-rated Le Havre defender Benjamin Mendy has emerged as the latest name to be linked with a move to the Stadium of Light.

According to FootMercato, Mendy is the subject of interest from Lyon and Marseille but it's believed Sunderland are at the front of the queue.

The position of left-back has been the subject of a lot of conjecture since the end of the season, with Danny Rose returning to Tottenham after his loan spell expired leaving us without a recognised left-back in the squad.

Recent reports suggested that Tigre's Lucas Orban was the player we wanted to fill that position, with his agent claiming we had made an offer and were waiting for the Argentine season to be over before Orban made his decision. However, with Tigre's season having another week left to run and the return to pre-season edging closer, it looks like Sunderland are actively working on other options.

Mendy, who has been referred to as the 'new Evra', turns 19 next month, so could be lined up for a move to the development squad, like his former Le Havre teammate El-Hadji Ba, who recently signed a 3-year-contract with Sunderland. He had also recently been linked with a move to Arsenal and Juventus.

With the club having so many irons in the fire with regards to left-backs, it will be interesting to see whether that means the club is now resigned to losing out on Danny Rose. With such a high turnover of players expected, it seems unlikely that the club will spend so much of their budget on two established left-backs.