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Big Sam Couldn't Turn Down Eboue
Sam Allardyce has said that it would be difficult for him to turn down a player with the experience of Emmanuel Eboue, who signed for the club yesterday on a deal which runs until the end of the season.
Ivory Coast international Eboue, who is thirty-two, has been training with the club for around a month and his new manager is hopeful that he can be a useful addition to his side ahead of the relegation run-in.
Allardyce said:
It would be wrong of me to turn down a player with such great experience of the Premier League, Champions League, international football, not to think that he could play a part for us in our fight against relegation this season.
He`s a terrific guy, a very, very good talker as well as a good player. Hopefully when the test comes, he is fit enough to cope.
Coates Likely To Stay At Sporting
According to the Portugese newspaper A Bola - the outlet that broke the news that Sebastian Coates would be leaving Sunderland in January - Sporting Lisbon and Sunderland are working out a deal to ensure that Coates will be a Sporting player beyond the end of this season.
The Uruguayan has enjoy a successful spell thus fair at Sporting and, as a result of media praise amongst other things, the feeling is that the Portugese giants will soon exercise the option to buy the former Liverpool defender for around five million euros sooner rather than later.
Fingers crossed they do it before they realise he's shite.
M'Vila Loving Life At Sunderland
French midfielder Yann M'Vila has said that he's happy with life at Sunderland, and that the derby win over Newcastle earlier in the season was the best moment thus far of his time here.
When asked by SAFC.com what his highlight of being a Sunderland player so far was, he said:
The whole match against Newcastle United. The fans were amazing, but they’re always amazing, whether we win or not.
They give us a special motivation and I think that gives us motivation on the pitch; when I play I think of my family, I think of my children and I think of the fans as well.
It doesn’t matter where we play the fans are there, and for the supporters it’s part of their lives.
I’m really happy to have chosen Sunderland, and I’m really happy with life here.
It's not the first time he's said he's enjoying himself here. If we stay up I'd love him to get a permanent move, but I dunno whether you can trust the word of a footballer when it comes to loyalty. We'll see, I suppose.
PFA Chairman Denies Johnson Pressure
The chairman of the PFA, Gordon Taylor, has denied that his organisation put pressure on Sunderland to unsuspend Adam Johnson and ensure he played, insisting that they merely followed protocol.
Taylor remarked:
With the initial statement (by Sunderland, following Johnson’s conviction) people are assuming we’d insisted he return. This is an employer/employee issue where the law of the land is clear, but also there is a contract as well.
It’s not pressure that applies, it’s a question of ‘Have they had an investigation?’ which they said they had, and it’s a matter for them to decide. If they were then going to say ‘He’s remaining suspended’ then they’d give us their reasons, but they didn’t do that.
All we were aware of (at the initial meeting with Sunderland) was that he said he was innocent, but charges hadn’t been made then. Then we were informed he was pleading not guilty to all charges.
We’re in a situation where he’s one of our members, we’re there to make sure the club follow the right protocol.
