After Sunderland capitulated against Hartlepool, Tony Mowbray admitted that Isaac Lihadji is close to a move away from Wearside and also explained Luke O'Nien's absence.
ONGOING DISCUSSIONS
“Lihadji was left out because there’s some discussions at the moment about his future. They are ongoing, so let’s wait and see how that pans out."
LATE DECISIONS
"He was going to play in the starting line-up tonight, but we took him out. It was quite late, after we’d done the training session in preparation for this game, the team changed. I don’t know the extent of it, but I think it’s got something to do with that (Qatar interest). Whether that pans out or doesn’t pan out, I honestly don’t know."
TRYING TO BREAK THROUGH
“Lihadji at this moment is a young boy at our football club, trying to make an inroad. He’s not going to impact too much onto the first-team starting set-up at this moment, he’s just one of the young boys that’s trying to break through. He’s got bags and bags of talent, but let’s wait and see what the next few days brings.”
LUKE O'NIEN
“O’Nien had an issue at home, a family issue that he had to deal with and was given permission not to travel. There’s no injury or anything amiss, he’s okay but just had to deal with the situation he had at home, which he was given permission to do.”
