Roker Round-up: Two Moves Delayed - Club Scouts In France

They both may have left the club some time ago but Ricky Alvarez and Ignacio Scocco have been struggling to complete moves to new clubs due to outstanding issues with Sunderland.

Alvarez has been at the centre at a much publicised dispute between Sunderland and Inter Milan, with the Italian side believing Sunderland were contractually obliged to sign the Argentine international - for a fee of around £8m - after they stayed up last season. However, according to Sunderland, Inter broke the terms of the contract when they hesitated in giving permission for Alvarez to undergo surgery which resulted in the 27-year-old missing a large chunk of the season with a knee injury.

While waiting for the two clubs to sort out their conflict - they are scheduled to meet in an attempt to reach a compromise - Alvarez has been busy trying to find a new club. That search appeared to be successful when he joined Sampdoria last week but it has been reported in Italy that Sunderland are holding up the deal, fearing that signing off on the transfer will strengthen Inter's hand.

Although you can see both club's point of view, you have to feel sorry for the player in this situation. He has been unable to continue his career through no fault of his own and although Sampdoria may ask FIFA for special dispensation to play the player, he may have to wait until Sunderland and Inter reach a compromise of FIFA finally make a ruling on the case.

Meanwhile, Scocco has also been unable to complete a move to a new club, in this case River Plate, due to Newell's Old Boys still having an outstanding debt with Sunderland.

The 30-year-old, who Gus Poyet brought to Sunderland two years ago, seemed set for a move to River after Los Millonarios made an offer for his services but were told by Newell's that they will either have to increase their offer as the Rosario-based club still owe Sunderland £1,660,000 from when they signed him in July 2014.

River have given a Newell's a deadline of tomorrow to accept their bid with Newell's wanting River to cover their debt to Sunderland, with an added £800,000 on top. Although the transfer is in doubt, if River can push the deal through, it may give Sam Allardyce a little bit extra to add onto his January transfer funds.

Finally, Sunderland had scouts present at the League Cup game between Bordeaux and Lorient last night according to Bordeaux's official website. Much publicised targets Lamine Kone and Lamine Gassama were not involved for Lorient but as both have already been the subject of bids from Sunderland, it's unlikely that either were the subject of our scout's gaze. If you're interested in the line-ups for the game, which Bordeaux won 2-0, you can see that HERE but, of the players involved, we have only been credited with a passing interest in Bordeaux's Wahbi Kharzi and Lorient's Raphael Guerreiro, who both started on the substitute's bench.