Sunderland transfer rumours rated: Are Ryan Porteous and Deniz Undav January targets?
It looks like it could be a very interesting January transfer window for Sunderland, and the rumours have already started to roll in.
That means we have a couple more names to run through our Sunderland transfer rumour rater, which is always fun.
So, let’s cast an analytical eye on the latest gossip and see if we can figure out how seriously we should be taking it.
Ryan Porteous
Sunderland are one of a host of clubs being linked with a move for Hibernian defender Ryan Porteous. According to Football League World, Sunderland are ‘keen’ on the centre-back.
Sigh.
Okay, there is a fair bit to unpack here. The first thing to say is that it is very clear that Porteous is leaving Hibs in January. Lee Johnson, the former Sunderland manager, has admitted as much.
"The fact is, Ryan is not signing a new contract,” Johnson said.
"We have offered a fantastic contract, a really big one for the football club and in my eyes a contract that should have been offered two and a half years earlier for a player of that quality.
"We can't do any more in terms of what we've done, the conversations have been good but he's good, high profile, and he is a young player on a free.
"I've got no issue with Ryan at all. He turned down the best contract we could offer and is seeking pastures new.
"I think potentially a January sale would be the best idea if we realise the fee, because at that point you can reinvest the money back into the club.
"If I was a Championship manager, and I have been in the past, he is the type of player I would be looking at. I know what wages the clubs pay, and they are high.
"Add in fact that you have an agent who probably hasn't had an income source from the likes of Ryan in the past and is seeing an opportunity to help Ryan and get him to where he believes he should be. This is unfortunately the nature of the beast."
That last paragraph holds the details here. The ‘source’ informing using Football League World will likely be an agent who is doing his best to raise the profile of a player about to hit the open market. Note it’s always the same Championship clubs linked – Sunderland, Norwich, West Brom – i.e. the biggest ones that can command the most clicks and attention on the internet.
Mowbray also discussed his defensive options this week while talking about Jordan Willis, and it certainly didn’t sound like he is worried about a lack of depth there.
"If we brought in another defender, for instance,” Mowbray said, “would that make him the number seven or number eight choice? If [Dan] Ballard is here and Aji [Alese] is here and [Danny] Batth is here and [Bailey] Wright is here, and so on and so on.
Porteous is clearly on the move and good luck to him. It would be a real surprise to see him wind up at Sunderland next month, though.
Rumour rating: 2/10
Deniz Undav
Staying with Football League World and their ‘sources,’ another has apparently told them that Sunderland (and Norwich…) are among the clubs to have enquired about taking Brighton striker Deniz Undav on loan.
Undav is a German striker that Brighton paid some decent money for but has failed to catch fire for them yet, although he has scored plenty of goals in the Belgian league with Union Saint-Gilloise.
This one might just be one of those where Sunderland have some loose interest as one possible contingency plan for losing Ross Stewart, but that's about it.
While the squad is light on strikers, Sunderland coped pretty well when they had none and someone like Undav, who has no record in English football, is not going to come in and start getting game time ahead of Stewart and Simms. That would surely make a deal largely worthless from a Brighton point of view.
He is also 26-years-old, and it’s been made pretty clear that Sunderland don’t intend to spend money on players over the age of 24.
January is approaching and we’ll see what happens, but unless there has been a major Stewart update we don’t know about, it’s hard to imagine Undav is really on the radar right now.
Rumour rating: 3/10
ALSO READ: Sunderland youngsters who could REALLY do with a loan move in January