Martin O’Neill ponders late swoop for Hugo Almeida
Hugo Almeida
SUNDERLAND are weighing up a bid for unsettled Besiktas targetman Hugo Almeida.
The 6ft 3ins Portuguese international has scored seven goals in 15 appearances for the Turkish side this season but is believed to have fallen out with the club over finances and would jump at a move to the Premier League.
Besiktas value him in the £3m range but ideally Sunderland would like to take him on loan – as would Everton, who have also been alerted to the fact the 27-year-old is interested in a move.
Black Cats boss Martin O’Neill is keen to strengthen the squad with one or two signings before the transfer window closes and bringing in a new striker is his biggest priority, especially with Nicklas Bendtner now sidelined for weeks with a facial injury.
The Sunderland boss is looking for a frontman with physical presence, experience and quality.
Almeida would fit the bill, as would Bolton’s Kevin Davies, who is out of contract this summer.
Davies would have no shortage of takers if he left the Reebok, but the striker is looking for a permanent deal rather than a loan for the rest of the season.
Sunderland have yet to show their hand but are considering options of offering Davies a permanent move and possibly offering Almeida a loan for the remainder of the current campaign, with the possibility of turning it into a permanent move in the summer.
With only a few days remaining of potential transfer window, O’Neill has been considering a huge variety of players, with no shortage of agents contacting the club to let him know what’s out there.
Valencia striker Aritz Aduriz has been mentioned in despatches and Sunderland have run the rule over out-of-contract Bosnian international Zlatan Muslimovic.
The 30-year-old former PAOK striker has trained at the Academy of Light this week, as has Peruvian defender Jesus Rabanal and Enoch Balotelli – teenage brother of Manchester City’s Mario.
But O’Neill was keen to stress through the Echo this week that fans should not read too much into the comings and goings of players at the Academy, as taking a look at a whole string of potential signings is set to become standard at the club during his time at the helm.
Key to any headway to be made in the transfer market will be whether owner Ellis Short has decided to spend to bring in potential signings.
The club had expected to do little business in the current window after a very active summer under Steve Bruce.
A loan signing or two was expected to be the height of any activity but it may be that the Black Cats will have to spend to ensure they get the man, or men, they want.
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Comments
There are 70 comments to this article
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thebluemonkey
Sunday, January 29, 2012 at 12:37 AMJust read the article about Krul dreaming of winning the FA cup while growing up in Holland . Well newcastle is the best place to dream about winning the FA cup as thats all it is for the s*cumbags just a dream . Theirs noone old enough without demensia to remember their last domestic trophy. Big club you having a laugh. 57 years and counting. It was a good job they play in black and white as their success was only shot in black and white. Their last league title was recorded by carvings on cave walls.
rdc68
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 07:49 PMI'll go with O'Neill#s judgement. At a reputed £4m from Lazio, I'd consider going back in for Cisse for the short term. Class until Jones came back that season...
fabster1973
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 05:14 PMa***raker.... don't you ever get bored with yourself?? why do you keep bringing up davies.... and not the others i mentioned, such as lambert, adkins, rodgers, (all of whom are still doing well, and whose teams are still playing good football)..... and that i touted o'neill as top choice of the more experienced managers............. if you had your way, balloon head would still be in charge, and we'd be in the bottom 3....... and i've never claimed to have any influence on here!!!! that would be unrealistic, and make me as thick-headed as you.... now is all that sparkling clear to you?? somehow i doubt it.
Offshoremackem
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 05:01 PMTouched a raw nerve again with the dummy out of the pram man. Due to property ownership and new company set up I am required far more now to get home often, Yes I invest in sunderland as well, hence tax status change. I work as oilgas drilling consultant (you will not know what that means). Now where do you work what do you profess to be good at, it is not writing on this forum for 1 thing. Oh BTW business is booming.
thebluemonkey
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 04:45 PMJer780 thanks for your comment. Unfortunetly seems that talking sense is now being moderated on here. Shame how all the tosh the great unwashed spout off never seems to get moderated.
Moonraker
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 04:37 PMOr rather he's just come onto replace N'Gog - thank god we didn't get him!!!
Moonraker
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 04:35 PMDavies on the bench
Moonraker
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 04:35 PMOnly a rumour but . . . . just had phone call from mate at the Reebok - Davies only on bech - the talk there is that he's not being played because of a likely move out in the next couple of days. . . . . . . .And Flabster - yes I have to agree with you that Bruce was sacked - well done for spotting that - not that it was anything to do with you nor was the fact that we now have MO'N . .I know you wee gutted it's not Billy Davies 0r Nigel Clough but I don't think anyone else is! . . . . Offshore - were you right about the Bruce signings that are now doing so well - you didn't have a good word to say about any of them. - (your words are still in the archives BTW) - just out of interest - now you claim to be a consultant who works in this country - what changed so that you can enter the country freely and not under an assumed name as you claimed - just what are you a consultant in?
thebluemonkey
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 04:07 PMPending moderation what a joke no abusive language just stating facts that the geordies tend to ignore.
thebluemonkey
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 04:05 PMPending Moderation
shaggy
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 03:45 PMor you would have a very long wait thebluemonkey!
thebluemonkey
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 12:52 PMWhy let a mag stop you from using this forum. If you look at their posts its the same old rubbish. Its just smallman syndrome they really do have a complex about us. If you actually answer them with facts about football or the history of the north east they dont have a clue and never reply anyway. We have the record biggest attendance, our record away victory was at their place and we ve won more league titles and all they come back with is 5 1, 52000 and champions league. Well we might not have as much european football but atleast we did win some domestic silverware to qualify. The truth is up until 1993 they were so far behind us that it took the last 20 years for them to be able to argue about size of clubs. Another fact that they seem to forget is that they have not won a domestic throphy and have been relegated in every decade since the 1950s so they not the big top flight club the post 1993 s*umbag fans make out. So i will give Captain and the other s8cumbags one change of a right to reply with something constructive but i am not holding my breath.
jer780
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 12:38 PMBlue Monkey (57) an excellent post. Finally some sense on here.
thebluemonkey
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 11:29 AMI am also not bothered if we dont buy in this transfer window. The biggest mistake SAFC did under SB was to keep letting him bring in new players only for him not to play them. Angeleri, Riveros were bought and hardly given chance to settle into English football. Same this season with Gardner, Vaughan, Mc Clean, Ji and Wickham. Now under MON they 've been given chances and its been like having 5 new signings. I would like to see Ji up front alongside Sess. We saw how they may team up when they linked up well for the goal against City. I put the bad start to the season totally down to SB tactics and not players ability . Would rather see us wait until the summer and bring in a top class left back. Put an end to SB multibuy policy and bring in 1 or maybe 2 players at the start of each season. Successful sides add to settled team not completely rebuild every transfer window.
fabster1973
Saturday, January 28, 2012 at 10:53 AMi agree pallionlad.. i wouldn't bat an eyelid if we didn't sign anyone this january.. and in any case, we're going along fairly nicely at the moment.. o'neill is still assessing the squad, and by the end of the season he should know exactly what's what... he may even draft one or two of these promising youngsters we've got into the 1st team squad come next season.. louis laing, billy knott and ryan noble seem to be the ones they think the most of...
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