Sunderland U21s won 7-1 in Europe with Dennis Cirkin, Dan Neil and Luke O’Nien in the side
Sunderland reportedly join Aston Villa and Wolves in contacting Real Madrid for £17.6m striker
The 21-year-old, who has progressed from Madrid’s academy into first-team contention, is attracting renewed attention from the Premier League after a standout year in Spain. Fichajes claim Real Madrid have received several formal approaches for the striker and are now assessing whether to sell.
Sunderland, Aston Villa and Wolves are all said to have made initial contact with the La Liga side, with the report suggesting the three clubs would be prepared to submit offers in the region of €20million (£17.6 million). Fichajes. in Spain say Madrid are weighing up those proposals as part of their wider planning for 2026.
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Sunderland’s interest is not new. The Black Cats were linked with García several times during the summer transfer window, with recruitment staff monitoring him closely as part of their forward planning. While a move did not materialise then, the latest report indicates that conversations around the player have resurfaced.
García strengthened his reputation over the summer by scoring four goals at the FIFA Club World Cup – including strikes against Al-Hilal, Red Bull Salzburg and a decisive winner over Juventus – finishing the tournament as its top scorer. His emergence led to a new contract until 2030 and a permanent promotion to the Real Madrid first team in August. Madrid are not actively pushing him out, but the report states that interest from England is concrete and ongoing, with Sunderland continuing to track his situation.
What has Kyril Louis-Dreyfus said about Sunderland’s transfer plans?
During a recent interview with Sky Sports, Sunderland owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus was asked about the club’s recent transfer strategy, and went on to hint that he and his board could sanction more activity in the upcoming January window. He said: “I think the stats showed to us that unless you do something extraordinary you're likely going to go back to the Championship. For us, we didn't really set ourselves a budget in terms of the money we want to spend - we had an ambition to try and bring in the players we want and fortunately a lot of the deals we wanted to do we were able to conclude them, and as a result of that the spend in the end was big, but most importantly we got the players that we wanted.
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“I would say definitely a little bit [that the great start could affect Sunderland’s approach in January] because obviously if we're in the bottom three by Christmas or we're in the top six by Christmas that changes the ambition a little bit. We're currently preparing for all scenarios but we've been doing that since the summer, so hopefully we'll be going into the January window with a top ten finish in mind and we will prepare and execute the transfer window to give us the best chance.”
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