Interest in AWOL duo
After failing to turn up to training last week, Sunderland will be desperate to get the absent pair of Papy Djilobodji and Didier Ndong off the books and may have a suitor for them in Turkey, as according to reports Trabzonspor are interested in both players.
Trabzonspor have been linked with Senegalese defender Djilobodji for a few weeks, but Fotospor now claims that the Burgundy-Blues are now interested in Ndong too and are hoping to take advantage of Sunderland’s need to trim the wage bill by encouraging the players to buy out their contracts, which would allow them to move to Trabzonspor for free.
The Turkish side had been linked with a loan move for Djilobodji over the weekend, with the club being unable to afford the rumoured transfer fee of €5m for the 29-year-old.
Scottish pair receive selection boost
Former Sunderland striker James McFadden is now the assistant manager of the Scottish national team and he has given new Sunderland signings Dylan McGeouch and Jon McLaughlin a boost by claiming any player that withdrew from Scotland’s summer tour will have harmed their chances of future selection, a tour that McLaughlin and McGeouch both made their debuts on:
I can’t believe there were players that couldn’t make the trip.
They’ve harmed [their chances] in that aspect but they’ve also harmed it in the players that have come in and done well in their place.
It’s a new coaching staff, new campaign coming up and we’re looking for players that want to go and play for Scotland, but are also good enough, and if we don’t get a chance to see them, how can we judge them?
The ones that came in did very well and it’ll be difficult for the ones that pulled out or weren’t there to get back in.
McFadden also singled McGeouch out for praise, with the midfielder playing in both games against Peru and Mexico:
Dylan McGeouch had his chance and did really well.