Sunderland agree £25.7m deal in principle for Dayann Methalie | OneFootball

Sunderland have reached a verbal agreement in principle with Toulouse to sign Dayann Methalie for £25.7m. The 20-year-old left-back has agreed to join, but the move still hinges on final formalities.

The package is £24m guaranteed plus £1.7m in add-ons. Sky Sports first reported the agreement. Despite weekend claims of a full deal, it is not yet completely done.

Sunderland have pursued Methalie all summer and the player side was never the main hurdle. An early bid was about €20m (£17.1m), then talks escalated as Toulouse, having sold Emersonn to Ipswich Town for €28m (£23.9m) plus up to €4m (£3.4m), sought to maximise another major sale.

A proposal worth around €33m (£28.2m) was rejected, after which Sunderland signalled they would explore alternatives, with El Hadji Malick Diouf among those linked. Crucially, they avoided bidding against themselves while the player wanted the move.

The verbally agreed package reflects a revised structure, with less tied to future instalments and add-ons, and more guaranteed earlier. There have also been unconfirmed claims that RedBird pressed president Olivier Cloarec to re-engage on a deal. If the remaining details are finalised, Sunderland will have landed a priority target after a negotiation some viewed as a touch of transfer-market 4D chess.

Source: Sunderland Echo

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