Roker Roundup: Oviedo reveals details of Sunderland departure - & Ndong finds ANOTHER new club

Oviedo move a few weeks in the making

Bryan Oviedo completed his move to FC Copenhagen yesterday, signing a three-year deal with the Danish side.

The move not only sees Oviedo return to his old side but to also link up with the manager who originally brought him to Europe in Stale Solbakken.

The Costa Rican international explained to La Nacion in his homeland that he had been in discussions with Copenhagen for a few weeks and after some difficulty, managed to reach an agreement after talking with both clubs:

It all happened a few weeks ago, that the negotiations and talks began [with Copenhagen]. At first it was difficult because we had to talk to Sunderland.

In the end, we talked between clubs and and agreement was reached.

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Ndong joins new club

Didier Ndong joined Ligue 1 side Guingamp in January but, despite playing 15 games, he only started eight in the league as the club were relegated to the French second tier.

Ndong did start Guingamp’s first Ligue 2 game of the season last Friday but that turned out to be his game for the club, as he has now returned to Ligue 1 with Dijon.

The former Sunderland midfielder has signed a four-year deal with Dijon and the club’s head of recruitment, Sebastian Larcier, praised the Gabon international’s versatility:

Didier is at first glance a fairly versatile defensive midfielder but he is able to make differences offensively.

He has a very interesting offensive and defensive aggression. It also has this ability to move quickly forward on the transition phases and thus be able to create gaps on a pass.

Photo by Athena Pictures/Getty Images

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Dutch winger surprised by Sunderland’s style

Sunderland were narrowly beaten 1-0 at home by Eredivisie side Heerenveen at the weekend, thanks to a long range strike by Hitcham Faik.

Mitchell van Bergen who played the full game on the wing for the Dutch side, expected a more physical, direct game as he was facing an English team from League One but was pleasantly surprised by Sunderland’s style:

Beforehand you thought: that would be flying, pounding and running. But they could play football pretty well. It was a fun party.

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Roy on Roy

Former Sunderland striker Roy O’Donovan is currently plying his trade in Australia, turning out for Robbie Fowler’s Brisbane Roar.

But the Irishman recently appeared on The42’s The Football Family podcast where he discussed a dressing down he received from his former manager at Sunderland, Roy Keane.

O’Donovan explained how he was summoned to the boardroom to see Keane - alongside Liam Miller and Anthony Stokes - and how their Irish boss did not hold back:

There was a call down from the office: ‘The gaffer wants to see Liam Miller, Anthony Stokes and Roy O’Donovan’. I know Miller and Stokesy are in trouble, they’ve been late again.

I’m thinking to myself, ‘what’ve I done? I’m going to get abused here.’

So we went up, we got sent into the boardroom and he made us wait for about 10 minutes. All of a sudden he nearly kicked in the door into the boardroom. He gives it to Liam Miller and he gives it to Stokesy for five or 10 minutes: ‘Ye’re always late! Ye’re a joke! What are ye driving? I’ve never seen people’s cars to break down as much as ye. How are ye so late?’

He’s abusing them and I’m thinking, ‘what’ve I done?’ Then he literally just spun on his heel and gave me the thousand-yard stare. He was like:

‘And you, big-time Charlie, heading back to Cork for some big party… oh yeah, I heard all about it. Hello magazine, The Evening Echo, The Sun, The Star, they’re all going to be there, are they? Well, you can fucking forget about that, because you won’t be going there, right? We’re playing Chelsea next week and you’ve got half a chance of playing, so fuck off out of my office, and fuck off going back to Cork!’

Obviously I was fucking frozen. I came out a little bit rattled from that. It was the only time really I suppose that I saw that side of him. But that was just him trying to keep my feet on the ground.

Photo by Patrick Bolger/Getty Images