ROKER ROUNDUP: Sunderland owners Donald & Methven set to sit down for no-holds-barred interview

Donald and Methven to appear on Roker Rapport

Stewart Donald will return to the Roker Rapport podcast tomorrow and he’s not coming alone, as he will bring Charlie Methven with him for the first time since our first podcast with the new owners back in May.

The chairman hasn’t appeared on the podcast since July and a lot has happened since then. Not least the season starting, the transfer window closing, plenty of transfer sagas, Juan Sartori being confirmed after the EFL granted their approval and Neil Fox and Tony Davison joining the board of directors, amongst others.

Also, in what promises to be an explosive conversation, we’ll discuss the circumstances surrounding the AWOL pair of Papy Djilobodji and Didier Ndong.

So tune in Sunday morning from 7am when it will be released on iTunes, Acast and YouTube to hear the conversation in full - it’s not to be missed.

Sunderland AFC

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International roundup

Bryan Oviedo started for Costa Rica yesterday as they went down to a 2-0 defeat against a South Korea side under new management.

The Koreans recently appointed former Portugal head coach Paulo Bento as manager, and he got off to a winning start on home soil thanks to goals from Jae-Sung Lee and Tae-Hee Nam. Oviedo played the entire game and was up against two former Sunderland players in Ki Sung-yueng and Ji Dong-won.

Costa Rica are next in action against Japan on Tuesday.

Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

Bali Mumba was also in action for his country as the 16-year-old started for England under-18s in the Limoges tournament in France.

England won 3-0 thanks to goals from Tyreece John-Jules, Keyendrah Simmonds and Faustino Anjorin.

Mumba started in a midfield role and will hopefully keep his place for the final game on Sunday as England take on hosts France.

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Molyneux heeds out on loan

Young winger Luke Molyneux has joined National League side Gateshead on a loan deal until January 2nd.

Gateshead say the deal is with a view to extending the loan until the end of the season, and the 20-year-old joined in time to make his debut later today.

Speaking to the club’s official website, the manager Steve Watson was delighted to add Molyneux to his squad:

Luke is a little bit different to what we have got and can be a great addition to the squad.

He’s already played at a really good level at times this season and has been in and around Sunderland’s first team in games and training every day. He gives us another really good attacking option.

Since the start of the summer, we’ve been looking for that ability to unlock the door when we have a lot of possession.

We haven’t always been able to unpick the lock and have that end product and I think Luke is the type of player that can give us that edge in the final third that will turn good performances into three points.

Now we’ve got Luke in who is another young North East lad who I know will be a good fit in the dressing room as I think he already knows a few of the lads in the squad.

Our lads have all gelled remarkably well together in a short time and it’s like a young family here and I think Luke will fit right into that as he, like all of our young lads, is another very ambitious player and hungry to do well.

He’s another quality young player that will boost the squad and when you have such a tight-knit group like we do, that success collectively feels that bit sweeter because we’re all pulling in the right direction for each other.

Gateshead play Ebbsfleet United later today (5.15pm KO) and, should you want to catch the youngster make his loan debut, the game is live on BT Sport.

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Cuellar joins new club

Former Sunderland defender Carlos Cuellar has departed Israeli club Beitar Jerusalem after just a few months due to ‘difficult circumstances’.

The Spaniard only joined the Israeli Premier League side back in May but departed on Wednesday and he took to Twitter to say his goodbyes:

He was not without a club for long though as he signed for fellow IPL side Bnei Yehuda yesterday.

That makes it 12 clubs for Cuellar in his long career, a career in which he made 33 appearances for Sunderland between 2012 and 2014.