Sunderland have been pursuing a deal for Marseille’s Geoffrey Kondogbia.
On May 21st, Sport Witness covered claims from France that Sunderland are keen and the midfielder is heading towards the exit door this summer.
Last week, we relayed news he’s close to reaching an agreement with the Black Cats and his move to the Premier League side in gaining more momentum.
Marseille are open to parting ways with him as he’s one of the highest paid players.
The 33-year-old joined the Ligue 1 side from Atlético Madrid in June 2023. He featured regularly in his first two years but not this season partly due to two different injuries.
To put it in context, Kondogbia played 1,016 minutes from 17 matches and 583 were from the league.
Sunderland manager keen on player
The France-born Central African Republic international’s situation at Marseille hasn’t put off the Black Cats.
That’s according to Media Foot, who state Geoffrey Kondogbia is a ‘very hot target’ for Régis Le Bris.
Sunderland have recently made progress to bring him to the Stadium of Light, and this was mainly due to the attractive offer made to the player.
He earns just over €100,000 per week at the French club and Sunderland have offered him €110,000. This, according to Media Foot, is a ‘big salary’ and he ‘can hit the jackpot’ by making a switch to the English club.
Marseille would certainly be happy with Sunderland’s offer for the former Inter Milan man. That’s because they want to get rid of Kondogbia and no one will oppose to his exit.
Black Cats must convince player
Geoffrey Kondogbia has less than 13 months left on his contract, and Transfermarkt value him at €3m. Agency Sport Cover, headed by agent Meïssa N’diaye, represent him.
The contract situation also forces Marseille to offload him this summer, to avoid losing him for nothing in 2027. To sum it up, Sunderland mainly have to convince the midfielder to secure this deal.
The Premier League side signed 33-year-old Granit Xhaka in July 2025 and are chasing Kondogbia, another experienced midfielder, this summer.
