Sunderland are making advances in their efforts to bring Marseille’s Geoffrey Kondogbia to the Stadium of Light.
Earlier this month, Sport Witness covered claims from France that Sunderland are keen on the 33-year-old.
He’s unlikely to have a future at the Ligue 1 side and is heading towards the exit door this summer.
Close to joining Sunderland
The English club are taking necessary steps to secure the France-born Central African Republic international’s services.
That’s according to Media Foot, and their title say Geoffrey Kondogbia is ‘close to joining’ Sunderland.
They have qualified for the Europa League and are planning to sign an experienced midfielder. The Black Cats added 33-year-old Granit Xhaka to Régis Le Bris’ squad last summer and are looking to repeat it with Kondogbia a year later.
Sunderland are showing strong interest in the former Valencia man, who ticks all boxes for Régis Le Bris. The potential move for him has ‘even gained more momentum in recent hours’.
That’s because the defensive midfielder and the Black Cats are now close to reaching an agreement. There’s no mention of the details of the deal.
Luckily for Le Bris’ side, Marseille are keen to get rid of him to lower their wage bill as he’s one of the highest paid players.
He played only 1,016 minutes from 17 matches of which 10 were in the Ligue 1. This is an indication the player doesn’t have a key role at Marseille. In short, they want to offload Kondogbia for both financial and sporting reasons.
This favours Sunderland, who are making progress to acquire his signature. However, the outlet makes no mention of Marseille’s demand or the fee needed to convince them.
Contract, value and agent info
Geoffrey Kondogbia’s contract expires in 2027, and Transfermarkt value him at €4m.
The highest value was €30m in May 2018, when he was at Valencia. Agency Sport Cover are representing the Sunderland target.
Due to his contract situation, the French club can’t demand a lot, allowing the Black Cats to sign him for a reasonable fee.