Mixed Messages Regarding Mavrias

Stories emerged in today's local newspapers, suggesting Sunderland are about to pull the plug on the transfer of Charalampos Mavrias from Panathinaikos.

The reports say that after the two clubs had agreed a fee of £2.5m with the Greek club two weeks ago, Sunderland had hoped to tie up the deal quickly, to have the player on the plane for the Barclays Asia Trophy in Hong Kong. The report then goes on say Sunderland will shelve their interest in the winger due to the deal not progressing and that the arrival of Emanuele Giaccherini has played a part too.

However those reports contradict what is coming out of Greece, with reports suggesting that everything is going as planned and he will complete his move to the Stadium of Light as soon as he passes a medical, with a spokesman for Panathinaikos saying;

We are in exactly the same stage as we were. Pending medical exams to complete the transfer.

If there was something else we would probably know.

In any case Panathinaikos has to sell and in this case they did...

The medical itself has been somewhat delayed, due to Mavrias recovering from a bout of rotavirus, which caused his much publicised abdominal strain and as a result has been undergoing a conservative training regime since he last played at the end of March. Then Sunderland delayed the medical further due to the new club doctor being unavailable due to being away on business until yesterday.

It was always the plan for the 19-year-old to complete his recovery in Greece before heading to Sunderland for his medical, with Panathinaikos awaiting a single document from Sunderland to complete the transfer and his family and friends speaking of their delight at his impending move, it appeared as if his move was a mere formality.

Hopefully this transfer isn't as dead as recent reports have led us to believe and we will finally be able to complete it in the near future but with so many mixed messages, it's hard to say for certain what will happen.