Kone shines on Strasbourg debut
Sunderland loanee Lamine Kone marked his debut for Strasbourg with a goal yesterday evening in their last friendly before the Ligue 1 season begins.
The Ivorian defender scored a fairly scrappy goal after the ball fell to his feet from a corner in the game against UNFP FC, muscling his man off the ball to poke his scrappy effort beyond Thibault Cottes in the opposition goal.
Kone - who joined the French club on Wednesday - has spoken at length about hoping to reignite a career that stuttered horrendously in recent years on Wearside, and having made a very good first impression with his new club he’ll be hoping to kick on ahead of the coming season.
Le résumé de la rencontre disputée ce soir à Eschau entre l'UNFP FC et le @RCSA, victoire finale de Strasbourg 2 buts à 0 (Aaneba 56' et Koné 66'). #RCSAUNFP pic.twitter.com/maQnlAsHx1
— UNFP (@UNFP) August 4, 2018
Boro & Carlisle profit from Wyke move
According to Alan Nixon, two of Charlie Wyke’s former clubs earned a slice of the pie when the 25-year old striker completed his move from Bradford City to Sunderland earlier in the week.
Wyke started out his career with Middlesbrough before moving on to Carlisle United, and Nixon claims that the two clubs have earned a few quid out of the deal - presumably as Wyke has previous clauses which dictate that any fee Bradford received would have to be shared out in some part.
Sunderland paid less than the initial £500k quoted in some media outlets for the forward, and the deal was made up with installment and clauses dependent on a few things - namely one which would see Bradford net a respectable sum in the event that Sunderland get back into the Premier League whilst Wyke is at the club.
Cattermole to Hull on the cards
In other Alan Nixon related news, he’s also claimed that a deal between Sunderland and Hull City for Lee Cattermole is on the table - but it is nowhere near completion.
Cattermole does not want to leave Sunderland unless he receives every penny that the club would owe him - a significant sum that would really set our new owners back a few quid.
The ex-Wigan midfielder is one of the top earners still on the club’s books, and it’s incredibly unlikely that any one will be daft enough to take on the amount that Sunderland are paying him.
Hull are not the only club interested in signing Cattermole, but in order for him to leave he needs to be a little bit more sensible in order to facilitate the move - perhaps in the same manner as when Lamine Kone headed to Strasbourg, a deal that was only possible due to the player agreeing to forgo some of his wages.
Cattermole wasn’t even in Sunderland’s eighteen man squad for yesterday’s game with Charlton Athletic, a decision which Jack Ross said was made for ‘tactical reasons’.
The Sunderland gaffer said:
It was a decision based on what I felt was right for today. I always assess players individually and this was what I thought was right for us on the pitch.
In Cattermole’s place were the inexperienced pair of Luke O’Nien - who was hooked at half-time in order to give us more in attack with the introduction of Jerome Sinclair - and 16-year old Bali Mumba.