Craig Gordon may be about to join Sunderland for €13.36 million after all. Providing he received the anticipated permission from his employers, the Hearts goalkeeper was scheduled to talk to club officials at the Premiership club last night and is expected to meet Roy Keane when the team return from a pre-season tour of Ireland this morning.
After pursuing Gordon for more than two months, Keane last week declared the deal to be "dead in the water" but, privately, Sunderland's manager never abandoned hope that Vladimir Romanov, the Hearts owner, would eventually agree to sell Gordon for less than the €15 million he has been demanding.
Sunderland, who upped their bid for the goalkeeper to a ceiling of €13.36 million, were not prepared to meet Romanov's demands and yesterday he appeared to be in the mood for compromise when he said: "I think it's for Craig to decide his own destiny. You can't just hold somebody at the club if he doesn't want to stay."
Sven-Goran Eriksson's transformation of Manchester City is likely to gather pace in the next few days with the expected arrival of up to four more foreign players.
A deal has been put in place to sign Javier Garrido, from Real Sociedad, and Eriksson's recruitment programme makes it almost inevitable the club will soon field their first-ever team made up entirely of non-British players. Having already signed an Italian, a Brazilian, a Bulgarian and the Swiss under-21 captain, Eriksson is turning his attention to bringing in the Spaniard Garrido in a €3 million deal to play on the left of defence or midfield.
After that, an extensive list of targets includes another Brazilian, Elano Blumer, who is talking about a €10.5 million move from the Ukraine club Shaktar Donetsk, and the Croatian international defender Vedran Corluka, a possible €6 million signing from Dinamo Zagreb.
The increasingly cosmopolitan feel at the City of Manchester Stadium could also be increased by the addition of a second Bulgarian international striker, Valeri Bojinov, who is talking about following his compatriot Martin Petrov to the club in a €8 million transfer.
Eriksson has blamed the high prices in the English market for his lack of interest in domestic players.
Newcastle United and West Ham United spent much of yesterday negotiating Kieron Dyer's proposed transfer to Upton Park but the price proved a sticking point. While West Ham have offered €6 million for a player who cannot pass a medical, Newcastle want at least €1.5 million more.
Sam Allardyce's hopes of signing Manchester United's Alan Smith for €8.9 million hinge on Dyer's exit but Newcastle's manager is optimistic of recruiting at least one new defender by the end of this week. The club have inquired about Bolton's Abdoulaye Faye, the FC Copenhagen centre half Brede Hangeland and the AZ Alkmaar full back Gretar Steinsson.
