Boost for Sunderland as rivals bid for player rejected – Developing transfer ‘not yet finished’

Sunderland’s hopes of signing Lille’s Alan Virginius may have been handed a boost as rivals Young Boys have seen a bid rejected for him.

That’s according to Foot Mercato, who say the situation is ‘not yet finished’ as the player potentially moves on from the French club this month.

Sunderland were thrown into the mix for the youngster yesterday, with a report explaining that he has become disillusioned with life at Lille and wants to move on.

Thus, he’s looked at his options and Sunderland were one of the clubs to look at him as a potential option alongside Clermont Foot and Young Boys.

The latter were believed to be the ones pushing the most for him and submitted a loan offer with a purchase option set at €4.5m.

That was considered interesting for Lille, but they refused the offer outright and have done the same to an offer from Clermont Foot, although the nature of their bid isn’t made clear.

Regardless, both have been rejected, which is potentially good news for Sunderland if they are as interested as Foot Mercato say they are.

They once again throw the Black Cats into the mix today saying they are ‘interested’ in the former Sochalien, although unlike the other parties, don’t seem to have made a bid as yet.