Liverpool made contact over the weekend in an attempt to sign Geertruida, who is on a season-long loan at the Stadium of Light from RB Leipzig.
The terms of Geertruida’s loan deal on Wearside do not include a recall clause, so the Black Cats were able to effectively dictate what happens to Geertruida, who has been a big success since joining in the summer.
When Liverpool first made contact, the feeling amongst the Sunderland hierarchy was that they would be willing to allow the 25-year-old to move to Anfield provided an acceptable compensation package could be agreed and they were able to secure a replacement ahead of tomorrow’s 7pm deadline.
However, discussions have not progressed during the course of the day and Sunderland do not want to head into deadline day with a high level of uncertainty hanging over them given that they host Burnley in a crucial Premier League game just an hour after the window closes.
As a result, Sunderland’s recruitment team, led by director of football Florent Ghisolfi, have decided that they will not be allowing Geetruida to leave.
More follows