Signing will take Cats’ spending over £100m
SUNDERLAND’S summer spending will pass the £100m mark with the capture of Armand Lauriente.
The French attacker is on the verge of finalising a £17m move from Italian side Sassulolo, and he follows Habib Diarra, Simon Adingra, Enzo Le Fee, Chemsdine Talbi and Noah Sadiki in moving to Wearside this summer for big money. Reinildo Mandava was a free transfer from Atletico Madrid.
Talks between Sunderland and the Serie B side for the 26-yearold are on-going, but there is confidence a deal will be struck in the coming days, possibly over the weekend.
He scored 18 times in 33 league appearances last season, while adding six assists to his record.
The attacker is well known to both head coach Regis Le Bris and recently-appointed director of football Florent Ghisolfi after previously playing for Lorient in France.
Lauriente is capable of playing through the middle and out wide and has been attracting interest from a number of clubs across Europe, with Bologna registering a long-term interest.
But a desire to play in the Premier League has put Sunderland at the head of the queue for his services.
Sunderland have also reportedly made a first bid for Bayer Leverkusen’s former Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka.
But the German side don’t want to lose their influential Swiss international.
Leverkusen have put a £17m valuation on Xhaka, who still has three years of his contract left in Germany, which is above what Sunderland chiefs currently feel he is worth.