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Sunderland's pursuit of Fabio Borini is far from over according to Gus Poyet.
The protracted nature of the deal, which saw Borini jet off to America with the Liverpool squad after a fee was agreed, coupled with reports from Italy saying that the player had no desire to return to Wearside, had put the deal in doubt over the weekend.
In truth, that doubt still remains, though Poyet has provided an update from the Sunderland end of things and insists he sees no reason why the move can't happen. Speaking after the 1-0 friendly success over Carlisle, Poyet told reporters:
I can assure you that there is no disappointment on my part that it has not happened yet.
It is normal.
And with all respect to the media, they do not know everything that is going on. It is not for me to explain but it is not just a question of Fabio wanting to come or not. There are many, many things to look at and unfortunately I cannot comment on those.
We are involved in negotiations and you never know how long that can take. There's nothing new to report as things stand but we are still hoping to close the deal completely.
It's up to Fabio.
We have been clear, everything is fine, there's no doubt about his connection with our club and me and him get along fine, so there is no reason for it not to happen.
So it all basically sounds pretty complicated. We don't have a clue what's going on to be honest, but thought this was worth mentioning anyway. We're facilitating like that..
