Sunderland AFC takeover: Stewart Donald in 'serious' talks with potential buyers

Donald placed the club publicly up for sale in December, and has since been working behind the scenes in a bid to find new owners for the Black Cats.

And reports from American news outlet Bloomberg now claim that the Sunderland hierarchy have been holding ‘serious discussions’ with at least two potential buyers over a deal.

Their report states that Donald wishes to find a new buyer by the end of the month, and suggests that his asking price is around the £40million mark.

This tallies with what the Sunderland owner has said publicly, having declared that he hoped to sell the club in ‘a month or two’.

Donald also told Sunderland supporters at a meeting in December that he valued the club at between £30million and £50million - which finance experts have suggested is a reasonable valuation.

Bloomberg also claim that the Black Cats have told prospective buyers that the club could be worth upwards of £250million should they return to the Premier League, thanks in part to the lucrative top flight TV deal.

Speaking last month, shareholder Charlie Methven stated that Sunderland had a queue of ‘very credible people’ keen to enter takeover discussions.

“We've been really blown by away by the level of interest in buying the club,” he said, speaking to BBC Newcastle.

“From really good people as well.

“Pretty much within a week of Stewart this time saying Sunderland is up for sale, we had a queue at our door of very credible people.

“We're now just going through the process of talking to people about what their plans for the club would be, because obviously it's very important that the best possible people come to the club.

“We really hope to conclude that process as soon as possible because for the club's sake, the new ownership needs to be in place to plan for the summer.”

The club were previously in takeover talks with a consortium led by businessman Mark Campbell, and latterly the FPP Sunderland group.