Stuck in the middle of an alleged tug o’ war between Saint-Etienne and Stade Rennais, where he spent last season on loan, Sunderland’s Wahbi Khazri appears to have chosen the former of the two.
According to Le Progrès late on Monday evening, the Black Cats forward took a break from his holiday to travel back to France in order to pass his medical ahead of a permanent move to the Ligue 1 side.
In fact, with the player currently recuperating from playing at the World Cup, the French newspaper believe there’s a good chance the deal could be made official on Tuesday so that Khazri can return to his holidays ahead of the 2018-19 season.
The 27-year-old is set to sign a four-year contract with Saint-Etienne, having also travelled to sort out the final details of said deal prior to putting pen to paper.
This all comes after a final push from Rennes last week, trying to convince their one-season wonder to make his loan move permanent.
However, they appeared to have done this too late, with the Sunderland man already giving his word to Saint-Etienne and their manager Jean-Louis Gasset.
This one is nearly over.
