The Gossip: Pair of Midfielders To The Fore

With a little over one week left in the transfer window, two central midfielders have dominated this week's transfer rumours.

But first, the formalities:

Valentin Roberge (Maritimo)
Mobido Diakite (Lazio)
Diogo Viana (F.C. Penafiel)
Danny Rose (Tottenham)
Emmanuel Cascione (Pescara)
Danilo D'Ambrosio (Torino)
El Hadji Ba (Le Havre)
Mauro Zarate (Lazio)
Bas Dost (Wolfsburg)
George Mandjeck (Auxerre)
Charlie Austin (Burnley)
Alfred Finnbogason (SC Heerenveen)
Greg Sandomierski (Genk)
Tom Allan (York City)
Salif Sane (Nancy)
Cabral (Basel)
Lucas Orban (Tigre)
Gary Hooper (Celtic)
Fraser Forster (Celtic)
Milos Krasic (Fenerbache)
Wilfried Bony (Vitesse)
Grant Holt (Norwich)
Andreas Weimann (Aston Villa)
Paulinho (Livorno)
Nacho Scocco (Al Ain)
Reto Ziegler (Juventus)
John Guidetti (Manchester City)
Josuha Guilavogui (Saint-Étienne)
Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli)
Luis Pedro Cavanda (Lazio)
Joseph Alfred Duncan (Inter Milan)
Alessandro Rosina (Siena)
Jonathan Biabiany (Parma)
Benjamin Mendy (Le Havre)
Scott Parker (Tottenham)
Johan Elmander (Galatassaray)
Abel Hernandez (Palermo)
Daniel Moberg Karlsson (IFK Göteborg)
Remi Gomis (Valenciennes)
Matej Vydra (Udinese)
Mejdi Traoui (Espérance de Tunis)
Jozy Altidore (AZ)
Jermain Defoe (Tottenham)
Vito Mannone (Arsenal)
Jérémie Aliadière (Lorient)
Jeroen Zoet (PSV)
Ibrahima MBaye (Inter)
Daniel Bessa (Inter)
Gino Peruzzi (Vélez Sarsfield)
Callum McManaman (Wigan)
Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham)
Kristoffer Nordfeldt (Heerenveen)
Matt Ritchie (Bournemouth)
Chung-yong Lee (Bolton)
Robert Acquafresca (Bologna)
Charis Mavrias (Panathinaikos)
Emanuele Giaccherini (Juventus)
Przemyslaw Tyton (PSV)
Maxi Lopez (Catania)
Innocent Emeghara (Lorient)
Bastian Oczipka (Eintract Frankfurt)
Christiano Biraghi (Inter)
Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli)
Aly Cissokho (Valencia)
Luca Marrone (Juventus)
Raul Meireles (Fenerbahce)
Emil Hallfreðsson (Chievo)
Frederik Sorensen (Bologna)
Jorge Flores (Tigres)
Fabio Daprelà (Brescia)
Libor Kozák (Lazio)
Julio Buffarini (San Lorenzo)
Manuel Fernandes (Besiktas)
Walter Gargano (Napoli)
John Boye (Rennes)
Jires Kembo (Al Ain)
Loris Benito (ZUrich)
Quincy Owusu-Abeyie (Panathinaikos)
Zdravko Kuzmanović (Inter)
Cheikh M'Bengue (Toulouse)
Ondrej Celustka (Trabzonspor)
Danny Guthrie (Reading)
Fabio Quagliarella (Juventus)
Johan Larsson (Elfsborg)
Carl Jenkinson (Arsenal)
Federico Peluso (Juventus)
Paolo De Ceglie (Juventus)
Armand Traore (Queens Park Rangers)
Sergio Floccari (Lazio)
Michael Bradley (Roma)
Ki Sung-Yueng (Swansea)
Ryan Gauld (Dundee United)
John Souttar (Dundee United)
Darren Petrie (Dundee United)

Another 5 new names this week, taking our running total for the summer to 94, meaning we might just make the 100 mark before the window has closed.

The two names that have been most prominent this week are Roma's Michael Bradley and Ki Sung-Yueng of Swansea City. While we have also been linked with a trio of promising Dundee United youngsters.

First up is Michael Bradley, who it's believed Sunderland have made a €7m offer for, a bid that looks to have been rejected already. Roma are understood to have told Sunderland that they will not sell Bradley for less than €12m, a figure that you would have to think may be out of reach of the club. Bradley is only on a little over £13k per week at Roma and he may slip down the pecking order (in a World Cup year) after the arrival of Kevin Strootman but with the player being highly rated at the Stadio Olimpico and establishing himself as a team leader, it would need Sunderland to really push the boat out to convince the club and player to agree to the move.

After being quoted €12m for Bradley, De Fanti started looking for an alternative and quickly set his sights on Swansea's Ki Sung-Yueng. A loan deal has been discussed between the clubs, with Michael Laudrup admitting that the player could leave the Liberty Stadium after falling down the pecking order. Ki and Laudrup are believed to have had a personality clash, which has hastened the player's desire to leave.

Sunderland are expected to face competition from Everton and German sides for the signature of a player who has two years left on his £35,000 per week deal with Swansea.

After yesterday's draw with Southampton, Paolo Di Canio again spoke of his desire to see a new signing, with physical presence and 'preferably British', added to central midfield. He may not get his wish of an English or British player with so little left in the transfer window but both Ki and Bradley have experience of Premier League football, albeit Bradley only had 3 games on loan at Aston Villa, and while neither are a Yaya Toure style physical presence, both are 6'2" and have an eye for a pass.

Finally we have three Dundee United prospects who Sunderland have regularly scouted of late, Ryan Gauld, John Souttar and Darren Petrie. 17-year-old attacking midfielder Gauld, 'the mini Messi', is believed to be Sunderland's main target but the club are also keeping an eye on his highly rated team-mates, 16-year-old central defender Souttar and 18-year-old defensive midfielder Petrie.

All three players, if signed, would be part of Sunderland's push to have more quality in the development squad, that can eventually push for a first team place.

That's your lot for another week. Remember you can keep up with all the stories as they happen via our DEDICATED SUNDERLAND TRANSFER CENTRE.