The Sunderland Chronicle
Squad10 Jul 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jay Matadeen
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sunderland lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Omar Alderete in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sunderland this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Jul 2028
Sunderland say no — this time
The offer from Brentford for Jocelin Ta Bi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Boardroom10 Jul 2028
Joe Neild has agreed to leave Sunderland for nothing
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Real improvement from Mark Bell at Sunderland
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mark Bell is 16, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market10 Jul 2028
Bertrand Traoré attracts admirers
The name of Bertrand Traoré has come up in conversations Sunderland were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
In brief
- Squad Words at Sunderland training over how hard people work
- Market The shop window has Omar Alderete in it
- Market Milton Keynes Dons are about to pick up the phone
- Boardroom Sunderland keep producing them