This & That
Stewart Donald has given another transfer update via his Twitter as fans wait for the club to bring in their first player since the takeover. Donald said: "The only player target we have lost out on is Kamberi to Hibs. But we are well placed on others so hopefully news soon. Lots of speculation but most of it is just absolute rubbish. I know everyone is desperate for signings. So am I. We are close, but they need to be negotiated on - it won't be long and it will start moving. Still lots of quality players out there we could sign!"
Donald has also insisted no player has handed in a transfer request: "None. They won't do that! They don't need to these days they just have their agents working hard. We may have talked a couple round."
However, despite this, speculation suggest we have accepted a bid of £5m for Paddy McNair from Boro.
Kevin Ball has explained how he will be bursting with pride when he watches Jordan Pickford and Jordan Henderson take their World Cup bow this evening: “I’m looking forward to watching them play, wherever I’m watching, no one will have a clue that I was fortunate enough to coach those two players at real prominent times in their careers. I’ll be sitting there thinking, ‘Go on boys, show them how good you are.’ I genuinely am immensely proud of both of them for me as a person but also for the club and the city of Sunderland because they are part of us. They’re both so different and very, very focused in their own ways, whilst Jordan Henderson has one way of doing things, Jordan Pickford will have another but the end product for both is that they want to do as well as they can for themselves, their families and their teams, which for me is the most important thing. As a city, the fact that they’re from here, they’re part of us, is something we should be very proud of.”
Meanwhile, the club have brought in Paul Reid as its new academy manager, a job that many wrongly believe Kevin Ball has been doing for years. Reid was formerly head of recruitment at Eastleigh FC. He said: “This opportunity is the accumulation of many years playing, studying and working within football and I am both excited and proud to be given the role of leading the Academy set up at such a fantastic club. A thriving academy is the bedrock of any successful football club. I am looking forward to working alongside the academy team, with the aim of building on the great foundations that are already in place and cementing our reputation as one of the best environments in the country for young footballers to develop and progress.”
