Nectar Triantis is being linked with a move away from Sunderland
The 22-year-old enjoyed a breakout campaign during a loan stint with Hibernian last season, converting himself into a central midfielder, earning a nomination for the Scottish Football Writers' Association Player of the Year award, and securing a first senior international call-up for Australia.
Since then, Triantis has taken the decision to switch his international allegiance to Greece, and has remained the subject of widespread transfer speculation throughout the summer window. Alongside continued interest from Hibs, a number of other clubs, including Derby County and West Brom, as per Mackem News, have been touted as suitors.
But as per journalist Pete O’Rourke, it would appear that Triantis’ future could lie Stateside. Writing on X, the reporter stated: “Understand Sunderland midfielder Nectarios Triantis has agreed a move to Minnesota United in a permanent deal before the close of the MLS transfer deadline.” Whether the deal will be wrapped and confirmed in time to meet that cut-off point - which came into effect on Thursday evening or the early hours of Friday morning, depending on time zones - remains to be seen.
This is not the first time that O’Rourke has reported on Minnesota’s interest in Triantis. Taking to X last Wednesday, he wrote: “Minnesota United are eyeing a move for Sunderland midfielder Nectarios Triantis before the close of the transfer window. Several Championship clubs are also interested in Triantis.”
Minnesota are a relatively new franchise in the MLS, having only been formed in 2015, and are currently managed by ex-Manchester United first team coach Eric Ramsay. The club are second in the Western Conference at the time of writing.
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Which other players could leave Sunderland before the end of the transfer window?
Speaking in a press conference on Thursday, Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris admitted that experienced midfielder Alan Browne could be another candidate for an exit over the coming days.
He said: "We had this conversation with Alan, about game time and what he needs for the best future for him. It's an open conversation and we will see next week. Leo made a really strong decision last year to help the team. Even if he wasn't involved in many games during the training sessions, at the end of the game he helped the squad.
"We can decide together whether he can find a solution to have more game time. If it's possible for him it could be useful for his career and maybe for us later. We'll decide next week."
Broadening his focus, the Frenchman added: "Yeah the flow of the transfer window is always a bit weird. Sometimes it's really slow and then next week, lots of things will happen. So probably there will be lots of different options for the players. They want to leave so that they can have game time this season, so we will see. I'm confident yes, I hope we can [find a solution]."
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