Relegated down to League One after a very poor Championship season, Sunderland are having to deal with problems few teams around them have ever faced: offloading players brought for the Premier League just two years ago.
While the sale of Wahbi Khazri should be relatively easy if the Black Cats don’t ask for too much, that of Didier Ndong could prove trickier.
Unlike the Tunisia international, the Gabonese midfielder doesn’t have a good season away from the club to fall back on, having failed to feature even just once for Watford during the last campaign after securing a temporary move to Vicarage Road in January.
Failing to turn up to his side’s first preseason meeting, the 24-year-old has made it clear he wants to leave, which is a feeling the club share seeing as they need to get him off the wage bill.
According to Tuttosport, one of the likelier avenues for Ndong would be a transfer to Torino, who already expressed their interest back in June, making a €7.5m offer (accepted) only to fail to reach an agreement with the player on personal terms.
The Italian newspaper believe Sunderland’s desire to get rid of their midfielder quickly could see them ‘change their conditions’, suggesting the Serie A side could get him for a lower fee.
There’s a brief mention of Cardiff also being interested, but the fact they believe Marko Grujic belongs to the newly promoted side instead of Liverpool makes us question that part a bit.
Either way, we need Torino to make a move now.
