defender Lamine Koné for an undisclosed fee. The
France-born Ivory Coast international has agreed a
deal until the end of the 2019-20 season.
Sunderland are second bottom of the Premier
League and Sam Allardyce said: “Strengthening our
defensive options was a priority and Lamine is a
player who has impressed me when I’ve seen him
play. He is big and strong, attributes you need to
play in central defence and his arrival will give us
healthy competition for places in a key position.”
The deal ends a protracted pursuit of Koné for the
Premier League’s 19th-placed team. Allardyce had
twice ended his interest in the 26-year-old this
month, with Sunderland initially cooling on a £5m
deal before a loan move broke down.
Allardyce has signalled his intention to bring in
another defender and an attacking player before
the end of the transfer window having already
signed Jan Kirchhoff, Dame N’Doye and Steve
Harper.
Sunderland are also monitoring Mathieu Debuchy’s
situation at Arsenal as he looks for regular football
before the Euro 2016 finals, although they face a
battle with Aston Villa if they are to strike a loan
deal.
Sebastián Coates could leave Sunderland with the
former Liverpool player understood to be the
subject of talks with Sporting Lisbon. The
midfielder Charis Mavrias has joined Fortuna
Dusseldorf on loan for the remainder of the season.
The 21-year-old, who joined Sunderland from
Panathinaikos in 2013, made only seven senior
appearances and scored a single goal.
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