Sunderland remain desperate for a new striker despite Eliezer Mayenda’s brace at the weekend.
The Black Cats have come under pressure to sign a new No. 9 for over a year now, but are yet to sign Ross Stewart’s replacement with less than two weeks left of the transfer window.
Frustration from supporters cooled slightly at the weekend, with Mayenda scoring twice in a convincing 4-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday.
However, Sunderland are still being pushed to bring in a proven goalscorer and it appears they aren’t giving up on Alexandre Mendy.
The Wearside outfit first entered negotiations with the Caen attacker over a month ago, but have been unable to agree a fee with the Ligue 1 club.
Caen set to sign Mendy replacement
Mendy has made it clear he wants to move to Wearside and isn’t training with the first team, but it is up to Sunderland to bump up their offer.
However, it does appear that Caen are preparing to lose the 30-year-old, as they enter talks with a potential replacement.
According to Foot01, Caen have made contact with Empoli over a move for M’Baye Niang, who scored six goals in 14 matches in Serie A last term.
The report claims Niang would be free, so Caen could wrap up a deal fairly quickly. It also claims that Mendy’s move to Sunderland is ‘imminent’, which suggests they may have made progress on a deal.
Sunderland Nation claimed over the weekend that The Black Cats had bid only ‘a quarter’ of Caen’s €4million (£3.4m) price tag, which would add up to about £850,000.
Sunderland won’t be forgiven if they refuse to pay up
While we know the club don’t want to splash out too much on signings, it is rather unbelievable if they are refusing to even offer seven figures for the Guinea-Bissau international.
If Sunderland want to sign a proven goalscorer who can help them reach the play-offs, then they are going to need to spend seven figures to do so.
If a deal doesn’t go through because of that, then the board will have a lot to answer for.
However, it does seem very likely that as deadline day nears, both parties will become less stubborn and eventually come to an agreement – but they will be cutting it fine.