One could wonder why us fans spend so much time reading the insurmountable amount of transfer rumour and speculation that swirls around every summer linking their team with players that generally dont ever happen.
Doing these ‘On This Day’ articles throughout the summer can sometimes leave us writers having to delve deeper into the archives to find some pieces that have some legitimate substance.
Today’s piece is another example of the amount of transfer rumour and gossip that can surround a team throughout the summer with very little coming from much of the speculation.
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Local media archives from this day in 2015 discuss the amount of players that Dick Advocaat and his Sporting Director Lee Congerton have been apparently trying to buy ahead of the new season.
After persuading the Dutchman to stay put, the club appeared determined to help secure the signings of players that the manager was looking for and according to newspaper reports, two of these players were fellow Dutchman Ron Vlaar of Aston Villa and QPR’s winger Matt Phillips along with the permanent signing of Sebastian Coates.
To further clarify the fact that this was purely speculation, the Northern Echo confirmed it it’s report that _‘neither player had agreed moves at this stage’_ but the transfer of Vlaar seemed more possible given the Dutch connection and his apparent admiration for the Sunderland manager.
> _Dutch defender Vlaar is known to appreciate Advocaat’s managerial prowess and is said to be tempted to join up with him._
In addition to this, despite Sunderland’s interest in Phillips, there was further clubs interested in the Scottish winger around Europe.
> _The stumbling block, though, is that there is also tentative interest in him from Champions League clubs, which is preventing a quick decision. Newcastle and Southampton are also interested._
Congerton is also said to be chasing Arsenal defender Carl Jenkinson, Coates and PSV Eindhoven midfielder Gigi Wijnaldum making him an apparent busy man during a summer of speculation and gossip.
In the end, Coates was the only player to come through the door from the many mentioned above. As will be the case this summer, many names will be mentioned but only a few will really arrive on Wearside.
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