Sunderland look to be closing in on their second permanent transfer of the summer window.
While the Black Cats had released a number of players at the end of the season, Jack Clarke was their first permanent exit as he completed a £15 million move to Ipswich Town last week.
Sunderland are expecting a number of players to leave before tomorrow’s deadline though and it now looks like they have reached an agreement for the sale of one first-team stars.
Pierre Ekwah has been linked with a move away from Wearside all summer, with both Udinese and Saint-Etienne interested in the midfielder.
The latter’s recent interest encouraged Sunderland to place a price tag on his hand, demanding as much as £6m for his departure.
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Pierre Ekwah agrees to leave Sunderland
While it was unclear whether they would cough up that much, French news outlet Peuple-Vert.fr have reported that Ekwah has reached an agreement with the Ligue 1 outfit to join on deadline day.
It claims that the Frenchman is in advanced discussions with Saint-Etienne after agreeing the outlines of a contract, but a fee is yet to be agreed between the two clubs.
Discussions have been ‘progressing well’ in recent hours, but Sunderland will surely be adamant on their valuation of the 22-year-old due to West Ham’s hefty sell-on clause.
The Black Cats already look set to sign Ekwah’s replacement, with Salis Abdul Samed set for a medical today, while they are also closing in on Serbian midfielder Milan Aleksic.
The pair’s impending arrival has likely pushed Ekwah to leave the Stadium of Light, with Regis Le Bris clearly not including him in his plans for this season.
Two midfielders in, one out
While a likeable player, the West Ham academy graduate was always going to struggle for game-time this term, so most fans will be accepting of his exit.
However, the club should really be pushing for minimum £5m, because the Irons are going to snatch around 35% of it.
Aleksic is expected to arrive for around £3m though, so it will prove a huge convenience that Ekwah’s sale could comfortably fund the youngster’s arrival.
It is a shame that the midfielder is set to join the newly-promoted club, because at the start of his spell at Sunderland he really looked like he was destined for the Premier League.
Hopefully we are to include our own sell-on clause, because his potential definitely shouldn’t be written off for a while yet.