After they pulled out of the £5 million deal for 26-year-old Lamine Kone earlier this month it seems Sunderland are going to get the Lorient centre-half on loan till the end of the season. Then the two sides will look at the prospect of a permanent move after.
Lorient were not impressed by the cancellation and threatened to make a formal complaint to the French Football Association. Whether this has damaged relations between the two sides and thus could cause conflict during the transfer at the end of the season is unknown especially if the price went up if he is a success during the loan period.
Kone has made 42 interceptions in his 17 appearances in Ligue 1 this season which makes him an ideal addition to a team that has only kept 3 clean sheets all season. The Black Cats have also conceded a total of 45 goals this season which is more than any other team in the league with no other team having conceded more than 39. Clearly Sunderland need to strengthen defensively as they lie 19th in the table and are in great danger of being relegated so it seems Sam Allardyce believes that the Ivory Coast international can make a difference and help keep the Black Cats up for another season.
Sunderland are also lacking goals so this might not be the last bit of business that they do before the end of this month.
