Sunderland Table Grealish Loan Offer and £30m Paixao Bid in Ambitious Transfer Window Push
Sunderland have sent Manchester City a formal loan offer for Jack Grealish and submitted a reported £30m bid for Marseille winger Igor Paixao, as the club shapes up for a first taste of European football in over a decade.
The Grealish proposal would see City cover part of the 30-year-old's £300,000-a-week wages for the remainder of the season, with any loan agreement almost certain to include an option to buy (The Athletic). Grealish is out of contract at City next summer and is understood to be open to a move to Wearside. Sunderland can offer him Europa League football, something Everton — who are expected to try to re-sign the winger after his injury-disrupted loan there last season — cannot match (Sky Sports). Grealish spent much of that Everton spell sidelined by a foot injury.
Formal negotiations between Sunderland and City have not yet taken place, according to The Guardian. Grealish is described as one of several "players of interest" on manager Regis Le Bris's shortlist rather than a completed deal.
Sunderland's pursuit of Paixao appears further along. The club has submitted a bid — reported to be worth £30m — for the 26-year-old Brazilian, who is receptive to the switch (Sunderland Echo; Yahoo Sports). Talks between the two clubs are continuing. Paixao scored 12 goals and added eight assists in 43 appearances for Marseille last season, and Marseille's financial difficulties mean they are prepared to sell one of their prize assets.
What makes this window remarkable for Sunderland is the possibility of landing both. Le Bris wants width and creativity, and the club are casting the net wide — talks over Sporting winger Geny Catamo have reportedly proven difficult, pushing Paixao and Grealish to the forefront.
Elsewhere, Nottingham Forest are in talks with Celta Vigo over a €15m (£12.8m) deal for right-back Javi Rueda. The 24-year-old, a former Real Madrid academy player and Spain youth international, made his first-team breakthrough last season with 26 La Liga appearances and 11 in the Europa League as Celta reached the quarter-finals. Real Madrid, who sold Rueda to Celta three years ago, will receive half of any fee. Forest have also confirmed that wing-back Eric da Silva Moreira will spend the season on loan at Dutch side Excelsior, and have agreed a £50m deal with Chelsea for striker Liam Delap.
Chelsea have been busy trimming their squad. Defender Axel Disasi has joined Crystal Palace on loan for the season — his third temporary move since signing from Monaco, following previous spells at Aston Villa and West Ham.
Brentford, meanwhile, have struck an agreement with West Ham to sign left-back El Hadji Malick Diouf for £35m plus up to £5m in add-ons. Diouf has been keen to leave West Ham since their relegation from the Premier League.
For Sunderland fans, the days ahead carry a rare kind of anticipation. A club back in Europe, chasing a player who cost £100m four years ago and a Brazilian coming off a double-digit-goal season in Ligue 1. Whether one, both, or neither arrives before the window shuts, the ambition is unmistakable.
