CONFIRMED: Coleman admits Ndong wants to leave Sunderland & that we’ve received loan offers

Sunderland manager Chris Coleman revealed in his pre-Cardiff press conference that Gabonese midfielder Didier Ndong has told the club that he would like to leave.

It has long been rumoured that the former Lorient man sees his future away from the Stadium of Light, and now that has finally been confirmed as being the case.

Coleman also admitted that we’ve received a number of offers for Ndong, but none of them appear to suit Sunderland - and, unless the deal works for our club, he won’t be allowed to leave.

When asked if a loan deal would suit Sunderland, Coleman replied:

No - we’ve had that conversation, myself and Martin. What do we get out of that, the club?

He continued:

There’ll be no loan deal unless it absolutely suited Sunderland Football Club financially. We’ve had a couple of enquiries for Didier, but for loan deals, which is not something that we want to agree to unless there’s an absolute guarantee at the end of it, which at the minute there certainly isn’t, so we’re not any further forward with that.

Regarding where Ndong sees himself going forward, he added:

It’s common knowledge that Didier would like to leave. He sees his future elsewhere, which is... it’s how it is. We’ve got to do what’s best for us at the end of the day, and that type of deal won’t do us any good. I understand Didier’s situation - he’s trained this week, and trained quite hard and well, but for Sunderland that type of deal at the moment is not possible.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

Coleman’s stance is clear - unless the deal suits us, we won’t cave in, irrespective of whether or not the player would like to leave.

Yesterday evening it surfaced in reputable French newspaper L’Equipe that Watford had made a loan offer to Sunderland for Ndong’s services, but there was no confirmation of whether or not that offer had been necessarily entertained. Taking what Coleman has said this morning, it would be fair to assume that the offer was rebutted.

Ndong has barely featured since Chris Coleman arrived at the club, with injuries cited as the reason for his absence, but the player returned to training this week and will be looking to catch the attention of potential suitors before the month ends and the transfer window closes.

Signed for a club-record fee in the summer of 2016 by David Moyes, Ndong was virtually an ever present last season during our disastrous league campaign and has scored just once, a fantastic left-footed effort in our 4-0 rout over Crystal Palace last February.

He’ll no doubt leave this month, but for how much, and how much of it will be given to Chris Coleman in order to strengthen his squad? We’ll have to wait and see.