According to reports in France, Lorient defender Lamine Kone will not move to Sunderland after the transfer has broken down, writes The Chronicle Live.
The Ivory Coast international was reportedly close to joining the Black Cats in a £5 million deal after travelling to Wearside to complete his medical last week, however Sam Allardyce was ‘non-committal’ over the weekend when the deal was enquired about, and in a press conference today, the Sunderland boss completely wrote off the deal for the 27-year-old. It is suspected the deal was wrote off simply because of the players fitness on his visit to Wearside.
Sunderland have however agreed a fantastic £750,000 deal for Bayern Munich centre-back Jan Kirchhoff after travelling to the Academy of Light yesterday for a medical, shining some light upon the breakdown of the deal for the Ligue 1 defender.
Also, The Guardian writes that following the news of the breakdown, Lorient vice-president has slammed Sunderland for their treatment of the defender, saying:
“It’s quite outrageous on the part of Sunderland who, meanwhile, have negotiated with a Bayern player.”
Kone missed out on Lorient’s cup win over Tours and will not be available for this weekend’s league match against Rennes due to him missing training.
“Our defensive pillar was lost for the cup game against Tours and for the Rennes derby, for nothing.”
Hayes also added that the club would be looking to take legal action against the Premier League club following their mistreatment.
Sunderland will however still be looking to add to their defensive options, with QPR’s Steven Caulker and Stoke City’s Marc Wilson being name dropped as of late.
