SUNDERLAND have had additional negotiations over Jhon Lucumi, but the club is still short of Bologna’s value of the centre-half.
The Black Cats’ makeover of the squad that gained promotion to the Premier League last season is still progressing, with the focus now on bolstering the defence.
Sunderland’s only defender this summer is left-back Reinildo Mandava, but with Chris Mepham leaving at the end of last season’s loan deal, there is an acknowledgement that the club is still lacking in centre-backs.
This summer, the club investigated other choices, but Lucumi, 27, has long been their primary goal.
There has been an ongoing communication with Bologna officials for several weeks, and more formal talks are believed to have occurred in the last few days.
While the conversations are thought to have been productive, no price agreement has yet been reached.
Sunderland are reportedly willing to put together a package worth over €20 million for Lucumi, a Colombian international who joined Bologna from Belgian club Genk in the summer of 2022.
The Bologna hierarchy is reportedly demanding at least €25 million, though there is likely to be some flexibility in how such a deal is structured.
Further negotiations are scheduled, with Italian media reporting that Bologna is already looking into prospective successors for Lucumi, who has 109 professional games for the Serie A club. Bologna reportedly sent a senior scouting mission to Belgium this week to observe Union Saint-Gilloise’s Fedde Leysen firsthand.
Lucumi has turned down a contract extension with Bologna and appears to want to travel to England to test himself in the Premier League. Bournemouth has also expressed an interest in getting his services, although Sunderland are presently believed to be the only English team in active talks with Bologna authorities.
Meanwhile, Giovanni Carnevali, Sassuolo’s CEO, has been outlining the events that led to the breakdown of Armand Lauriente’s projected move to Sunderland.
The Black Cats agreed on a £17.5 million deal for Lauriente, who flew to Sunderland’s training facility in the Algarve last weekend to seal the transfer.
However, talks fell down, leading Sunderland’s ownership group to walk away, and Carnevali has stated that disagreements with Lauriente’s agents were at the root of the deal’s failure.
“There are difficulties in this market,” stated Sassuolo’s CEO. “There are many, not in the options and goals, but in the negotiations.
“As a football system, we work with a lot of agents, particularly foreign ones. Maybe you close a deal with a club and then have to buy the player from his agent. That is not good for football.
“His [Lauriente] sale could have been important for investment, but this won’t jeopardise our objectives and so we’ll continue what we’re doing.”
Leave a Reply