Recap & Rumours: Fresh links cast doubt over left-back's future; Latest on Larsson Serie A exit

Larsson is 'one of many' being considered

Sebastian Larsson has been linked with a return home to Sweden and a switch to Serie A with Fiorentina in recent weeks. Out of contract this summer, the midfielder may play his last ever game in a Sunderland shirt this weekend against Chelsea.

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But his next steps remain unclear. With David Moyes claiming this week that the club have now spoken to all those whose future at Sunderland has been in doubt, no doubt the Swede now knows of his fate. So where next?

Reports in Italy have recently claimed Larsson is 'waiting for the call' from Fiorentina but the Tuscan side have some reconfiguring to do with Portuguese legend and current coach Paulo Sousa widely expected to imminently leave the club.

Further speculation yesterday then suggested Larsson is merely 'one of a number' of options that the Serie A side have looked at.

And the Italian links just feel a little too convenient. It was the Sunderland midfielder himself who originally dropped Fiorentina into the debate over his future by claiming in an interview with the media in Sweden last winter that the Florence-based outfit had pursued him at some non-identified point in the past.

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Sunderland linked with left-back

According to the Mirror Sunderland and Derby are set to battle it out for Bristol City left-back Joe Bryan.

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The 23-year-old has made 181 appearances for his hometown club and aided the Robins in avoiding relegation from the Championship this season. A fee of around £2.5m is being mooted as sufficient to lure him away from Ashton Gate.

And the links perhaps cast fresh doubt over the future of Bryan Oviedo. The Costa Rican full-back has only been with Sunderland since January, playing nine games since being reunited with David Moyes.

The 27-year-old missed four matches recently with a hamstring injury before coming back into the starting eleven for Tuesday's trip to Arsenal.

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For his part, Oviedo appeared to commit himself to Sunderland - just about - this week but stopped short of doing so with any conviction, telling the Echo:

The team needs to get back to the Premier League because everyone wants this - the team and the fans.

Whether 'the team' includes himself remains unclear and the former Everton man has already been linked with a move away from the Stadium of Light with an admittedly odd looking claim that Newcastle may be interested in him.

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'Overweight' Lens linked with Feyenoord

With amusing quotes in the Turkish media attributed to new Fenerbahce coach Aykut Kocaman ringing in his ears, it's surely no coincidence that Sunderland misfit Jeremain Lens has been linked with Feyenoord in recent days.

The 52-year-old, who will succeed Dick Advocaat at the Istanbul club at the end of the season, is alleged to have described Lens as having weight issues and being 'not a special player',

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Freshly unveiled as the new Netherlands coach Advocaat has named Lens in his first Dutch squad since taking up the post he has held two times previously. Holland face Morocco and the Ivory Coast in friendlies in a few weeks time before a World Cup Qualifier with Luxembourg on the 9th June.

Reports in Turkey have continued to suggest Fenerbahce will battle Turkish league champions Besiktas for Lens but Feyenoord are a newcomer to the transfer saga.

The present Eredivisie winners will be plotting a squad for a Champions League campaign this summer but Dutch outlet Voetbalcentraal claim to have spoken to Lens in recent days and quote the winger as saying he has no desire to return to Holland.

On the subject of his weight, Lens was occasionally accused of being a little heavy during his stint playing for Sunderland.

In October 2015, shortly after his move to the Stadium of Light, the 29-year-old was named as the 17th "fattest" footballer in the Premier League with a BMI of 25.2 - a figure classed as "overweight" by NHS guidelines.

Present Black Cats' midfielder Darron Gibson was the fifth 'most-overweight' player in the English top-tier at that time with a BMI of 26.9. He doesn't appear to have lost much since either.

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