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It was another busy week for Sunderland, with plenty of rumours about bids, loans and interest in new players but without anything concrete to show for it. We will get to all that shortly but first:
Julian Speroni (Crystal Palace)
Jean-Armel Kana-Biyik (Stade Rennais)
Santiago Vergini (Estudiantes)
Marcos Alonso (Fiorentina)
Caner Erkin (Fenerbache)
Gordan Bunoza (Wisla Krakow)
Will Buckley (Brighton)
Marc Albrighton (Aston Villa)
Raul Meireles (Fenerbache)
Matt Grimes (Exeter)
Josh McEachran (Chelsea)
Diego Capel (Sporting Lisbon)
Fraizer Campbell (Cardiff)
Fabio Borini (Liverpool)
Martin Kelly (Liverpool
Moussa Sow (Fenerbahce)
Bafetimbi Gomis (Lyon)
Ever Banega (Valencia)
Jordon Mutch (Cardiff)
Daniele Dessena (Cagliari)
Giannis Maniatis (Olympiakos)
Christopher Forrester (St Pats.)
Billy Jones (West Brom)
Jordi Gomez (Wigan)
Costel Pantilimon (Man City)
Michael Mancienne (Hamburg)
Kevin Chaurand (Celaya)
Luis Pedro Cavanda (Lazio)
Ashley Williams (Swansea)
Tom Ince (Blackpool)
Luca Cigarini (Atalanta)
William Vainqueur (Standard Liege)
Luciano Vietto (Racing Club)
Kolbeinn Sigthorsson (Ajax)
Paulinho (Livorno)
Curtis Davies (Hull)
Ross McCormack (Leeds)
Yeltsin Tejeda (Saprissa)
Morgan Amalfitano (Marseille)
Rene Adler (Hamburg)
Bryan Ruiz (Fulham)
German Lux (Deportivo La Coruna)
Geoff Cameron (Stoke)
Kurt Zouma (Chelsea)
Andreas Christensen (Chelsea)
Lewis Baker (Chelsea)
Victor Moses (Chelsea)
Panagiotis Kone (Bologna)
Diego Poyet (Charlton)
Enner Valencia (Pachuca)
That's nine new players added to our list this week, which means we celebrate our half-century after our running total reaches exactly 50. That number is particularly impressive as the transfer window doesn't officially open until Tuesday and we try to be somewhat selective about which rumours we include on the list.
We'll start off with the great news that everyone's favourite Italian goalkeeper Vito Mannone has signed a two-year contract. The contract was triggered due to the amount of games Mannone played last season and came a few days after he went out of his way to assure Sunderland fans that he loved the club and wasn't looking for a move after the arrival of Costel Pantilimon.
Despite Mannone declaring his love for the club this week and Pantilimon joining the club on a free transfer, Talksport bizarrely claimed that Sunderland (and Stoke) had missed out on the signing of Deportivo La Coruna goalkeeper German Lux after he signed a new contract at Estadio Riazor. Talksport claimed that the reported interest from the Premier League duo was reported in MARCA but the original report makes no mention of either club, with the player rejecting offers from River Plate and Marseille, as well as unnamed Premier League interest.
Now to the big news of the week. According to reports in Italy, Sunderland have made a bid to bring loan star Fabio Borini back to the Stadium of Light ahead of the new season. The bid is reported to be around the £8m mark with an extra £2m in add-ons but it's believed Liverpool are asking for £12.5m for the Italian striker.
Although the source of this story is not as reliable as it once was on all things Sunderland, it does appear as if Borini is falling further down the pecking order at Anfield with Liverpool seemingly trying to sign every attacking player in the world. With Rickie Lambert already signed, Adam Lallana and Divock Origi set to follow, and Lazar Markovic, Alexis Sanchez and Xherdan Shaqiri also high on their wanted list, it's likely Liverpool will be tempted to sell Borini should they get an acceptable offer for the 23-year-old.
Borini's other half also caused something of a stir after recent comments on social media, in which she mentioned she was back in the North East and posted a picture stating that she was moving house. Despite the excitement these comments caused, it's probably best to take all comments from friends or family of players on social media with a huge pinch of salt, as it's easy to misconstrue innocent comments as hints.
Despite all that, I think I speak for pretty much all Sunderland fans when I say I hope the club do everything within their power to make sure the striker returns to the club on a permanent basis.
Premier League rules explicitly say that clubs cannot loan more than one player from the same club but that has not stopped Sunderland being linked with a quartet of Chelsea players this week, Victor Moses, Kurt Zouma, Lewis Baker and Andreas Christensen.
The father and agent of Christensen was quick to rubbish suggestions that Sunderland were interested in the 18-year-old central defender. Due to Lee Congerton's links to Chelsea, linking players from the London club with a switch to Sunderland is an easy one to make but you can imagine Gus Poyet being interested in possible loan deals for either Moses or Zouma in particular.
Zouma is a very highly rated central defender who would add pace and power to our central defence, which even after the possible arrival of Ashley Williams may need further strengthening with the likely departure of Valentin Roberge and Modibo Diakite, and John O'Shea and Wes Brown not getting any younger. Victor Moses had a disappointing season with Liverpool after joining on a season-long loan from Chelsea but impressed in his debut season for Chelsea after scoring 10 goals and showed during his Wigan spell that he can thrive in a similar style to Poyet's.
If I were to make a choice between the two, I would certainly pick Zouma as the best option for what we need. With the club hoping to sign Borini, and Johnson, Giaccherini and Mavrias also available to play wide, Moses would surely only be a back-up option if Sunderland were unable to push through a deal for the Italian.
Baker is another highly rated young talent, an attacking central midfielder, the 19-year-old would be a good fit for Sunderland if it wasn't for his lack of experience, as to date he only has one first team appearance to his name and that was a three minute FA Cup cameo in January. He would be a good addition on a permanent deal but it seems unlikely that he would get enough starts with us to make a loan worthwhile for either party.
Diego Poyet left Charlton this week, which unsurprisingly sparked rumours of a move to join up with his dad Gus at Sunderland, a move that Diego has previously admitted would be unappealing to him;
My dad is my biggest critic. I could talk to five people after a game and four would say I was brilliant. He'd be the one to say "he was good, but..."
There were rumours of me moving to Sunderland, but for the time being I'd rather do it for myself. I've always said I wouldn't want to play under him.
It has disadvantages, but it has advantages because he has the knowledge and I can learn from him. We used to have a kickabout, but not all the time. He didn't want to pressurise me or push me when I was young into doing something. He just let me get on with it.
Sunderland have also been linked with a pair of World Cup stars this week, however a move for both appear unlikely for differing reasons.
Bologna midfielder Panagiotis Kone was strongly linked with a move to Sunderland but it appears that the player doesn't feature on Sunderland's wanted list and the player himself wishes to remain in Italy. Due to the player impressing in the World Cup and his club being relegated to Serie B, there's no doubt his agent is hard at work resolving his future.
Meanwhile, reports in Ecuador suggested Sunderland, Arsenal and Everton were tracking one of the unlikely stars of the World Cup, in Ecuador's three-goal striker Enner Valencia. The hitman, who scored all of his nation's goals in Brazil was rated at £10m by Pachuca before the tournament but his heroics have seen the Mexican club put a price-tag of around £15m around his neck, an amount which will should rule Sunderland out of the running for the 25-year-old.
We were also said to be interested in Stoke City's versatile American international Geoff Cameron, with Hull City also believed to be tracking the player who turns 29 in two weeks. Sunderland had been linked with a bid for Cameron on transfer deadline in January, but with the capture of Billy Jones, the ongoing interest in Santiago Vergini, and Lee Cattermole and Liam Bridcutt's presence in midfield, Cameron would only struggle for playing time at the Stadium of Light and it's hard to see a reason he'd leave the Stoke bench for the Sunderland one.
Reported target Robert Snodgrass has all but completed his move to Hull City, which considering the fee of up to £8m is hardly a loss for Sunderland. Paying that much for a player who is almost 27, cost Norwich around £3m and is in the last year of his contract would not be a good business decision, particularly since he would not improve our starting XI.
Finally, released pair Keiren Westwood and John Egan may be set for moves to The Championship, with Brighton showing interest in Westwood and Blackburn hoping to sign Academy graduate Egan.
That's your lot for this week but stay tuned to Roker Report throughout the summer as we keep you up to date with all the transfer news and rumours. Also, feel free to keep in touch with our dedicated Transfer Centre, which you can do by CLICKING HERE.
