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We've only gone and signed an actual left back, one with pace and on a permanent deal. The banner was right, miracles DO happen but before we get to that and the rest of the week's news, the formalities.
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)
Jose Holebas (Olympiakos)
Djamel Mesbah (Parma)
Timothee Kolodziejczak (Nice)
Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille)
Jack Rodwell (Man City)
Nabil Bahoui (AIK)
Emmanuel Emenike (Fenerbahce)
Troy Deeney (Watford)
Jordan McGhee (Hearts)
Jamal Lascelles (Nottingham Forest)
Jose Gimenez (Atletico Madrid)
Virgil van Dijk (Celtic)
Carl Jenkinson (Arsenal)
Rod Fanni (Marseille)
Christian Fuchs (Schalke)
Muhamed Besic (Ferencvaros)
Dorin Rotariu (Dinamo Bucharest)
Michael Babatunde (Volyn Lutsk)
Max Clayton (Crewe)
Craig Mackail-Smith (Brighton)
Charlie Austin (QPR)
Samuel Eto'o (Chelsea)
Davide Astori (Calgiari)
Matt Besler (Sporting Kansas City)
Giancarlo Gonzalez (Columbus Crew)
Tim Cahill (NY Red Bulls)
Ki Sung-Yueng (Swansea)
Raoul Cedric Loe (Osasuna)
Cristian Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid)
Carlos Bacca (Sevilla)
Leandro Rodriguez (CA River Plate)
Daniel Wass (Evian)
Danny Rose (Tottenham)
Patrick van Aanholt (Chelsea)
Jonathan Biabiany (Parma)
Serge Gnabry (Arsenal)
Ikechi Anya (Watford)
Ogneyi Onazi (Lazio)
Jose Miguel Cubero (Herediano)
Maxime Lestinne (Club Brugge)
Nine new names were added to the list this week, taking our running total to 90. So close to the century and yet we are still only in July.
Sunderland actually signed an honest-to-goodness left back this week on a permanent deal, the first of which to come in since George McCartney returned to the club in 2008. In the many years since we've had numerous players playing out of position, Kieran Richardson and Phil Bardsley being just two examples, or loanees Marcos Alonso and Danny Rose. Andrea Dossena didn't happen.
Patrick van Aanholt is the left back in question, who joined from Chelsea and signed a four-year-deal for a fee of around £1.5m. The 23-year-old has already joined up with the squad in Portugal and could make his debut on Tuesday against Recreativo de Huelva.
GavinSAFCspoke to @VitesseInside this week about what to expect from van Aanholt and you can read that HERE.
Despite signing van Aanholt, it won't stop Sunderland's pursuit of Alonso. However that was complicated this week when Fiorentina decided to take the Spaniard on their tour of South America, with Alonso playing the full 90 minutes in the Italian club's 1-0 win over Estudiantes.
With Alonso's potential move delayed as his parent club take a look at him in pre-season and before van Aanholt had completed his move, Danny Rose had been linked with a possible return to the Stadium of Light. Although a very popular figure during his time at Sunderland, the signing of van Aanholt and the continued interest in Alonso would make a move for Rose a non-starter.
On the other side of the field, Gus Poyet is still hoping to bring Santiago Vergini back to the club. The Argentine central defender struggled to adapt initially but flourished when moved to right back near the end of the season and Poyet said an attempt to re-sign Vergini is an ongoing process;
Vergini is still ongoing. We started a bit late because of different issues. But, yes, it's still a possibility.
Sky Sports has thrown Sunderland's name into the hat once again in regards to Arsenal right back Carl Jenkinson. The 22-year-old is expected to be available on loan and although we may be interested if we fail to sign Vergini, the presence of Billy Jones means it's doubtful Arsene Wenger would loan him out to a club who couldn't guarantee that he would start regularly
Talksport claimed Sunderland and Aston Villa were battling it out to sign Evian's Danish international Daniel Wass. Although originally a right back, he has converted to right wing very successfully but with Jones and, eventually or hopefully, Vergini occupying the right back role, and Adam Johnson, Emanuele Giaccherini, Charis Mavrias, Seb Larsson, Duncan Watmore and even Jordi Gomez available on the right of midfield, it appears as if there will be no room in the squad or team for another right-sided player. Unless there is an unexpected departure.
Giaccherini had been linked with a move away once again this week, this time in a swap deal with Parma winger Jonathan Biabiany but as he has explained in the past, it's extremely unlikely that any club in Italy could match his £30k per week wages and he is happy at Sunderland. A point reiterated by his agent, Furio Valcareggi;
Back in Italy? He's having a wonderful time at Sunderland, has 3 more years on his contract and will not move from there.
Our right hand side appearing to be sorted, barring the arrival of Vergini, should also rule out moves for two more players linked with the club this week. In Serge Gnabry, who was linked with a loan move from Arsenal, and Watford's Ikechi Anya.
According to reports in Costa Rica, Jose Miguel Cubero will sign for an English club in the coming days, with Sunderland, West Brom, West Ham and Blackburn all named as possible destinations for the defensive midfielder. Cubero was named in Costa Rica's World Cup squad but the presence of Lee Cattermole and Liam Bridcutt in his position means we will not be the club in question, as any central midfielder that comes into the club is likely to be a more forward thinking player. Which will also put paid to our link with Lazio midfielder Ogenyi Onazi, who would actually be a very good fit for Poyet's system but in a position that does not need strengthening at the current time.
Roker Report stalwart Michael Graham took a look at the holes in the Sunderland squad this week, to try and figure out just what Gus Poyet's transfer plans will be, which you can read HERE.
One midfielder who is looking increasing likely to join the club is Uruguay international Cristian 'Cebolla' Rodriguez. The 28-year-old, who can play on the left wing or centrally, has been left out of Atletico Madrid's squad for the 2014 Copa EuroAmericana (the same tournament that Fiorentina and Alonso are taking part in), with reports in Uruguay suggesting his agent is in London trying to tie up a deal that would see the player join Sunderland.
Poyet has made no secret of his wish to sign his compatriot, a wish that has been helped by Cebolla's desire to leave Atletico in search of regular playing time.
Sunderland, Swansea and Everton were offered Belgian winger Maxime Lestienne this week. The 22-year-old has had a remarkable couple of seasons with Club Brugge, racking up 29 goals and 32 assists in the last two seasons in all competitions and plays in a very similar style to Adam Johnson. He's expected to leave the Belgian runners-up this summer and with that in mind was offered to the three Premier League clubs above after Wolfsburg failed to follow up their interest with an offer. He could be an interesting option if we fail to sign Rodriguez or Fabio Borini but he's unlikely to be high up on our wanted list, if he's even on there at all.
Our pursuit of Borini is still ongoing, despite our £14m bid for the Italian being accepted by Liverpool over a week ago. Since then the striker travelled with the Liverpool squad on their pre-season tour of Liverpool and started the first game against his former club Roma, with Sunderland still waiting to speak to the player in person.
During the game against Roma he injured his right shoulder in a fall, which caused him to be substituted and sparked rumours that it would scupper Sunderland's move. That proved not to be the case with Brendan Rodgers saying Borini would only miss a few days training with scans showing only bruising to his shoulder.
Curiously, despite the injury not being serious and the player expected to be available for the rest of the tour, he tweeted that he was returning to England to 'recover as quickly as possible';
So bored in the hotel room waiting to fly back to England to recover as quick as possible!! #comeback #recovery #hardwork #desire
— fabio borini (@borinifabio29) July 26, 2014
Although we'd prefer to stay clear of conspiracy theories, it does seem very strange that he would fly thousands of miles back to England to recover from a bruised shoulder, especially when Liverpool will have club doctors and physiotherapists with them in America. Possibly one to watch in the coming days.
Ignacio Scocco and Oscar Ustari's moves to Newell's Old Boys were completed today, as the Argentine club unveiled them in front of a large crowd at the Estadio Marcelo Bielsa:
No te pierdas el video de la presentación de hoy #NewellsUnSentimiento https://t.co/F1nF5GhjEk pic.twitter.com/XdXGPMoBkC
— Newell's Old Boys (@CANOBoficial) July 27, 2014
Finally, Gus Poyet had said that he would leave players behind for the Portugal trip if they didn't have a future with the club. So Danny Graham, Cabral and Modibo Diakite being left behind obviously means their time at Sunderland is coming to an end but we will have to wait and see what being included in the squad means for players who had been rumoured to be heading for the exit door, in Valentin Roberge, Alfred N'Diaye and even Mavrias.
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.
