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According to Sky Sports News, Sunderland have agreed a fee for highly-rated Le Havre youngster Benjamin Mendy.
Reports of the club's interest in the 18-year-old left back first emerged a couple of weeks ago but since then his name has been linked with a plethora of top clubs, including Arsenal, Lyon, Marseille, and Juventus.
However, it appears to be Sunderland who have stolen a march on their rivals, with the player himself recently insisting that England was his preferred destination this summer.
There are no details yet regarding the fee, but with just a year left on his contract and the modest €400,000 fee for out-of-contract El Hadji Ba - also Sunderland bound, of course - still fresh in the memories of the Ligue 2 club, it is unlikely to be too extortionate.
However, unlike Ba this is not expected to be seen as a signing with the developmental squad initially in mind. We can probably expect another, more experienced left back to arrive, but the feeling is that Mendy is capable of at least challenging for a first team spot immediately.