Sunderland are reported as being “ready to turn to ” Stewart Downing in his bid to strengthen Sunderland this summer.
Manager Dick Advocaat hopes the Irons will be ready to sell as they enter a new era under Slaven Bilic following Sam Allardyce’s exit.
And his move may come as early as this week as he bids to head the queue in front of any other interested clubs which The Northern Echo says could include Middlesbrough.
Sunderland are fighting the Hammers for Arsenal’s Carl Jenkinson and both he and sporting director Lee Congerton see Downing as a player who can settle straight into life back in the north east.
The Echo writes: “There is likely to be other interest in the Middlesbrough-born England international but Sunderland would stand a great chance because it is close to his childhood roots. He also had a successful short month loan spell there in 2003.
The newspaper adds:”Middlesbrough could yet provide an alternative if chairman Steve Gibson opts to make a surprise statement of interest in the transfer market.
Downing has two years to run on his contract and the Irons would want at least the £5 million they paid for him although his £50k a week wages would prove a problem to Boro.”
Sell him if the offer is good or a team meet our valuation.Time for Downing to move on before he sits on the bench with the rest of hippos deadwood.
Need to buy some creative players before we sell our current ones
Agree IronsEssex. I think he deserves at least another season. When we was actually playing football early on last season Downing was doing well. Think he could fit into Bilics plans and have a good season even if he is used as a sub.
Well yeah clearly that is one of the priorities.But if we do that then i would snap Sunderland or Boros hand off 😉
Bit torn on Downing,he can be really good but those days can be pretty rare sometimes.Think i would still keep him though with europe this season.Depends who we bring in i guess.If we manage to get the targets we want i certainly wouldnt be shedding too many tears if he was sold at a decent price 😉
Slav will want to build a new team & mould into his style of playing. To do so we will need to generate as much £ as we can. Maybe we have to sacrifice a couple to help fund this.. we will get fa for nolan, o’brien & most of the other pets.
I don’t want to sell anyone, except the obvious deadwood. We need to build the squad, besides this season has the potential to contain 60 matches.
Downing will prove his worth this season, or leave the next. That goes for the whole squad, we have no guarantees that anyone will fit into the new system, until the season is underway. The only players I don’t questionmark are: Adrian, Cressie, Reid, Kouyate and maybe Collins (though he will have some injuries, as usual).
That said, I’d be surprised if Sakho doesn’t bring the goods in his second season. I also have a feeling Valencia will flourish under our new manager.
eriko, I take it you mean, O’BRIEN, NOLAN, JARVIS & MAIGA unfortunately they will not bring in much money , if any, they are all useless. Their wages will help though.
COYI
Actually, I’d like to see what Maiga can bring to the table under Slav. He just bagged 9 in 25 apps for a relegated Metz, so maybe he’ll come back as a big joker this season. I doubt it, but who knows..
Nolan, O’brien and Jarvis will do their best, preferably for some other team.
Thinking about this, we actually have a very thin and fragile squad right now. But one year from now, things might be very different. I like the pressure on us though, It will be a fine test for our long forgotten academy players.
I agree oldiron you will get nothing for Nolan and O,Brien it will cost money to get rid of Magia and you will only get £4 million for Jarvis,
That’s the problem we only have Sakho and Valencia worth money,
You might get £5 million for Downing and it’s going to cost double to replace him