Sunderland battle for Chelsea's Sidwell
Steve Sidwell's loan move to Sunderland is not past the post yet, despite claims that the Chelsea midfielder's arrival at the club is a done deal.
Several reports today claim that a loan move has been agreed with the 25-year-old coming to the North East for the rest of the season.
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Others say that Sunderland are set to beat off Blackburn Rovers for his signature because Mark Hughes wanted to make the signing permanent while the player preferred a loan with a view to a permanent move in the summer.
And yet another claim is that the player will not be released by Avram Grant until January 31 because the Chelsea boss needs cover for John Obi Mikel who is away at the African Cup of Nations.
Whatever the reality, Sunderland were certainly not gearing up towards the unveiling of a player today and it is unlikely anything will be resolved in the coming week.
Even so, Sunderland fans will be heartened by the knowledge that the club is chasing a player of his calibre.
Sidwell joined Chelsea last summer having been the ball-winning, driving force behind Reading's promotion and climb up the Premiership table in their first season in the top flight.
Initially he found it hard to force his way into Chelsea's star-studded midfield but has now been involved in 20 games for the Blues this season, although many of those have been him coming on in the dying minutes of matches.
Sunderland's hopes of signing Portsmouth's Matt Taylor may well have been resolved yesterday in after-match talks between Roy Keane and Harry Redknapp.
Redknapp says his squad is desperately stretched at the moment with players away in Africa or injured. But Taylor has been left out of recent games after transfer talk put a question mark over his future and unsettled him.
And although the player is rumoured to prefer a move to Reading rather than Sunderland or Bolton, Redknapp says that he is more interested in who is the most ambitious bidder for the player.
Meanwhile, Sunderland are reckoned to be among several Premier League clubs monitoring Bayern Munich defender Daniel van Buyten.
The Belgian international has struggled to hold down a regular place in the side this season, and has previously been linked with a move to Celtic.
However, van Buyten's agent Christophe Henrotay has claimed that Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, Fulham, Sunderland and Wigan Athletic are also keen on the 29-year-old – who had a loan spell with Manchester City in 2004.
"Every English club outside the big four that needs a central defender has shown an interest in Daniel, Sunderland, Everton, Wigan, Tottenham and Fulham have all contacted me about him."
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Weather for Sunderland
Friday 10 February 2012
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Temperature: -3 C to 2 C
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