There is a little over a week left before the rest of Europe shuts their respective transfer windows, and with time running out Sunderland are still looking to find new clubs for AWOL African pair Papy Djilobodji and Didier Ndong.
Djilobodji is still interesting Bundesliga outfit Hannover 96 - as their Chief Executive confirmed earlier this week - and (according to rumours in Turkey) Trabzonspor, but there seems to have been a lack of serious interest in Ndong since his move to Torino fell through earlier in the summer.
There may be hope yet though, with reputable Portuguese newspaper A Bola writing in their print edition that Benfica are set to make a move for the central midfielder.
According to the report, Ndong was offered to the Portuguese giants and after analysing his performances they decided to follow up on their interest through an intermediary of agent Jorge Mendes.
Benfica had hoped to sign one of the Brazilian pair of Ramires or Gabriel, but after failing to get either of those transfers over the line, the report alleges that they hope to land Ndong for a fee of around €5.5m - and have already started discussions with Sunderland.