There is a reason that the summer is called ‘silly season' in football, but the report that Valentin Roberge's ‘big money deal' is problematic in moving the Frenchman on this summer was about as silly as it gets.
I'm not quite sure where the Sunderland Echo got the story from, but it's not true. Roberge is one of the lowest paid players in the Sunderland squad.
I've got sympathy for journalists who cover a single club and are under pressure to deliver daily news stories, especially in the summer when actual events tend to give way to almost endless speculation and rumours. They seem to spend more time denying rumours than reporting news in the summer.
But Roberge is categorically not on the kind of wages that the article suggested.
He needs to move on and hasn't been a success on Wearside, no one is denying that, but he was always a budget player signed from a budget market on a budget policy. Sunderland's net spend that summer, the second lowest in the whole Premier League, should be evidence enough for anyone.
Signed from one of the smaller clubs in Portugal and without any real competition, there was just no reason for Roberto De Fanti to ever give Roberge huge money.
One way or another, I suspect he'll move on this summer but if he doesn't it won't be because of the size of his pay-packet.