Hibs told to pay up for Stokes
Hibs will have to pay cash up front if they want Sunderland striker Anthony Stokes playing at Easter Road this season.
The Scottish Premier League side see the Republic of Ireland international as a key summer signing and have raised the idea of a season-long loan deal.
But Sunderland are not interested in yet another temporary spell for a player who was farmed out to Sheffield United and Crystal Palace on loan last season and is clearly surplus to requirements at the Stadium of Light.
The Black Cats want him off their books permanently and Hibs will be told they can forget the idea of a lengthy loan spell – if they want him, they will have to buy him.
That though, might not prove too much of a problem for the Easter Road club, who yesterday sold Scotland striker Steven Fletcher to Burnley for 3million.
Sunderland will do business for substantially less than the 2m Roy Keane paid for the Arsenal player's services in January 2007.
Stokes's high wages might be a problem. But there's a chance that, with a bit of negotiation from all sides, the striker might consider a wage reduction and Sunderland could accept a lower fee so that Hibs could meet the player's salary.
Certainly it would seem to be in the best interests of all concerned that Stokes's future is resolved as soon as possible. The 20-year-old's career has hit the buffers completely over the last 12 months and another year on the fringes can hardly appeal to the forward.
In new Hibs boss John Hughes, Stokes has one of his biggest admirers.
Stokes signed for Hughes at Falkirk on loan from Arsenal and scored a staggering haul of 16 goals in 18 games in 2006/07.
Hughes sees Stokes and Rangers' Alan Gow – both unwanted at their respective clubs, as well as being former team-mates at Falkirk – as the players who can plug the gap left by Fletcher's departure.
The position of Stokes is typical of many others in Sunderland's bloated squad and the board is committed to a policy of sales rather than loans wherever possible.
Last season there were times when up to a dozen players were out on loan from Sunderland.
And this season the Black Cats want to greatly reduce the number of players on their books who do not have a genuine part to play in the club's future progress.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Sunderland
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Heavy sleet
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -0 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South
