Roker Roundup: Report of £2m Dion Sanderson bid dominates Sunderland news

Sunderland ‘to submit Dion bid’

Sunderland are set to submit a bid for last season’s star loan signing Dion Sanderson, according to reports.

The 21-year-old had a stellar season, winning the Young Player of the Year award and Football Insider claim that Sunderland will table an opening bid for the defender.

The report claims that Kristjaan Speakman kept in touch with his Wolverhampton Wanderers counterpart Scott Sellars throughout Sanderson’s loan spell, with the intention of signing the centre-back permanently.

Sunderland are expected to face competition for the player’s signature however, as the likes of Crystal Palace, Huddersfield Town, Newcastle United and Sheffield United have all been linked with a move for Sanderson.

Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

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Postecoglu mistake by Bain

Michael Bridges revealed last week how Yokohama F. Marinos manager Ange Postecoglu could have become Sunderland manager in 2017, rather than Chris Coleman.

The former Sunderland striker gave the Greek manager a glowing reference when contacted by Martin Bain, only for the then CEO to give the job to Coleman.

Postecoglu is now in line for the Celtic job, and Sunderland made a mistake not giving the job to the 55-year-old, according to Peter Filopoulos of Football Federation Australia (FFA) in an interview with The Scotsman.

Filopoulos believes Sunderland would now be a Premier League club, rather than still in League One, had Bain decided to hire Postecoglu:

The guy has 25 years of experience at the sharp end, I hear it said he will need time, and he does look to reshape comprehensively. But his mindset is that every football job has to be two-track: as you remodel behind the scenes, you have to win, and win with finesse.

He has worked for clubs expected to succeed in every game and that wouldn’t trouble him at Celtic. If he does get the job, he will feed off being backed into a corner, having doubts expressed. That is when he works best.

He is always challenged by his environment, but he will also challenge that environment: challenge not only players but directors and the entire culture, because he constantly strives to upscale parameters.

In my 30 years working in sport I have never encountered a coach as meticulous in their preparation.

To explain how highly I rate him, I would make this claim. He was linked with the Sunderland job in late 2017. If he had been appointed then, they would be in the Premier League now, not the third tier.

Photo by Masashi Hara/Getty Images

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Moroccan left-back reveals Sunderland interest

Moroccan youth international Sami El Anabi is currently playing in the third tier of Spanish football with Real Aviles, but could have been featuring for Sunderland.

The 20-year-old left-back was wanted by the club last summer, but the move fell through after Sunderland failed to agree terms with his former club R.E. Virton, and El Anabi moved on to Real Aviles.

Speaking to L’Avenir, El Anabi explained that Sunderland had turned up to scout a winger for Waasland-Beveren but after the Moroccan kept the player quiet, they quickly turned their attention to the left back instead:

There was Sunderland too, who inquired and was considering the idea of ​​signing me and then loaning me.

In fact, when I was at Virton, the English club had come to observe a Waasland winger one day when this team was playing against ours. But I put him in my pocket, which got the Black Cats interested in me.

All that did not happen, but I’m not sorry, I really found pleasure here in Spain. The following? I do not know. We haven’t considered it yet. I’m under contract until the end of June, but we wanted to focus on the race to climb first.