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Sunderland head into their Championship play-offs campaign amid reports that one of their crucial stars could be on the verge of a move to Germany.
Sunderland face Coventry City in the Championship play-offs semi-final first leg on Friday evening at the CBS Arena with everything to play for.
Regis Le Bris’ side finished the second tier regular season on a five-game losing streak, but have been backed by fans as surprising favourites for promotion.
If Sunderland fail in their quest to return to the Premier League, the Black Cats risk losing several of their best talents in the summer transfer window, with many of Le Bris’ regulars being tracked by top flight European outfits.
Ahead of the first leg clash at Coventry, reports emerged that delegates from one of Europe’s elite footballing institutions were in the North East this week to intensify transfer talks with one “talented” Sunderland star.
Borussia Dortmund officials flew in for transfer talks with Sunderland’s Jobe Bellingham
Reports from the German outlet Ruhr Nachrichten this week stated that Borussia Dortmund have ramped up their efforts to secure Sunderland ace Jobe Bellingham’s services this summer, with the German giants reportedly flying into the North East of England this week for negotiations.
According to that report, Dortmund boss Niko Kovac was joined by managing director Lars Ricken and sporting director Sebastian Kehl for the trip to Newcastle via a private jet earlier this week.
Bellingham has been one of the Championship’s best this season, and scooped the EFL prize for Young Player of the Season and earned a spot in the second tier Team of the Season, after his impressive campaign that has seen Real Madrid become interested in the Sunderland star.
The combative midfielder has been an integral cog in Le Bris’ Black Cats midfield, making 40 appearances in the second tier this season, notching seven goal contributions in his second season at Sunderland since switching from his boyhood club Birmingham City.
With the links to Dortmund coming amid Sunderland’s play-offs campaign, Le Bris told the Northern Echo this week: “I don’t want to think too much about the future.
“But obviously, when you have a successful team, especially with young players, talented players, it’s always tough to say that you will keep them all in the future.
“We’ll have a lot of interest in these players, so we’ll see later. What I can say is that they are all absolutely focused on these games ahead of us. This is really clear, 100 per cent.”
In an EFL Analysis exclusive transfer update earlier in the season, via information from our expert transfer correspondent Graeme Bailey, we know Dortmund have been paying close attention to Bellingham as well as fellow teenage talisman Chris Rigg for months now amid the Black Cats’ fight for Premier League promotion.
The Signal Iduna outfit could have the upper hand in negotiations, with Manchester United and Crystal Palace having lodged interest in the 19-year-old because Dortmund’s UK scout is Daniel Dodds, the brother of ex-Sunderland coach and now-Wycombe Wanderers boss Mike Dodds.
Also, the Bellingham family remain well-connected with Dortmund given elder brother Jude Bellingham’s rise to footballing prominence at the German giants, and their interest has now intensified with the summer window looming.
The best bargaining chip Sunderland will have to keep Bellingham beyond this summer is top flight football, and they must rectify their barren record in the play-offs if they want to have that card to hand.
Yet, if the midfield starlet does leave, the Black Cats could have a replacement waiting in the wings.
Sunderland could have Jobe Bellingham replacement in Nectarios Triantis
Wolves’ Tommy Doyle has been labelled the Bellingham replacement, with the Englishman set for crunch talks with boss Vitor Pereira this summer over his future, after he was heavily linked with a Wearside move in January.
However, already on the Sunderland books is Australian international Nectarios Triantis, who has been in exceptional form on loan at Scottish top flight side Hibernian this season.
| Jobe Bellingham at Sunderland | Nectarios Triantis on loan at Hibernian |
| Games played – 40 (39 starts) | Games played – 31 (31 starts) |
| Goals + assists – 4 + 3 | Goals + assists – 3 + 6 |
| Chances created – 47 | Chances created – 28 |
| Duels won – 236 | Duels won – 194 |
21-year-old Triantis has been making “dominant” displays weekly at Hibs, enjoying nine goal contributions in 31 starts under David Gray, spearheading his loan outfit’s third place finish in the Scottish Premier League.
If Sunderland lose Bellingham to Dortmund for a mammoth fee, Triantis has proven this season with his Hibs stint that he is capable of taking up the midfield mantle for the Black Cats next term.