Roker Roundup: Doncaster boss talks about Sunderland target; Wickham to link up with Josh Maja?

Moore on Sunderland target

Both Sunderland and Doncaster Rovers are said to be chasing highly-rated Bristol City forward Antoine Semenyo as they look to bolster their attacking ranks for the second half of the season.

Rovers manager Darren Moore was asked about his side’s interest in the 19-year-old and replied that every club in League One and Two were interested in the player, but did not have anything to report on behalf of his club:

Everybody is after him aren’t they, I don’t think there is a League One or League Two club that’s not after him.

If anything like that should come, I’ll let you know but I’ve nothing to report on it.

Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images

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Wickham to link up with Maja?

Connor Wickham is expected to leave Crystal Palace before the end of the transfer window in search of first team football.

The former Sunderland striker has finally recovered from long term injuries but has fallen down the pecking order at Selhurst Park after the loan arrival of Everton’s Turkish forward Cenk Tosun.

He was linked with a move to Sheffield Wednesday but according to reports in France, he may end up playing alongside another former Sunderland striker in Ligue 1.

Girondinfos report that Bordeaux are interested in the 26-year-old as they look to strengthen their strikeforce.

Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images

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Mignolet explains reason he signed for Sunderland

Back in 2010, Sunderland beat off competition from PSV Eindhoven to sign Simon Mignolet from Sint Truidense for a bargain fee of around £2m.

Mignolet later signed for Liverpool for £9m before eventually moving to Club Brugge in the summer.

Such has been his impact back in his homeland (12 assists and only seven goals conceded in 18 league games), that Mignolet won the Belgian League goalkeeper of the year award despite only playing in the second half of 2019.

Speaking before the ceremony, Mignolet discussed why he originally signed for Sunderland and revealed that he could not down the opportunity to play in the Premier League, fearing that the chance to do so may not happen again:

I have always been a Premier League fan since my childhood. ”Match of the Day” was always on every Sunday during breakfast, while we were eating eggs or coffee cakes.

That’s why I chose Sunderland at the time and not PSV. I absolutely wanted to go to the Premier League - I couldn’t have dreamed that the train would only have passed once in my life.

If that train were to pass by now, it would have to be the right wagon for me to jump on. It shouldn’t be the train that slows me down in my career.

Anyway, the Premier League remains the competition I look up to the most. The toughest one there is for a goalie. So if the opportunity presents itself again - and everything fits with Club and private - then I will definitely think about it.

Photo credit should read ANDREW YATES/AFP via Getty Images

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Bent on Henderson’s work-rate

Sunderland academy product Jordan Henderson was named England Men’s player of the year this week, with another academy product Lucy Bronze being named Women’s player of the year.

Bent’s former team-mate at Sunderland Darren Bent joined Talksport recently to talk about the current Liverpool captain and revealed just how hard the midfielder used to work at the Academy of Light.

Bent explains that he once had to be removed from training as he was training too hard:

He is the only guy I have trained with and played with that got pulled out of training because their heart rate was too high.

All the years I have trained and played, he was the only player where the manager had to pull him out of training because the manager was like ‘Listen, you red zone stats are way too high, you are going to have a heart attack if you carry on’.

Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images