Franco di Santo has told Bild that he wants to stay at Werder Bremen this summer.

Various sources have reported that Sunderland are keen on the striker, with the the Mail even writing that they were preparing to launch a bid worth £8 million for the Argentine.

The player has just a year remaining on his contract in Germany, but has told Bild that he and the club are looking to extend this, saying that, "many wanted me, but I have already said I will prefer to stay at Werder."

He went on to reveal that he and the club "are in talks" and that he would "like to extend" his deal, hoping "Werder sees it that way" too.

The 26-year-old appears to have found form in the Bundesliga with Bremen after some poor records elsewhere, so it is perhaps no surprise that he does not want to move and disrupt his current flow of goals.

Di Santo started his career with Chilean side Audax Italiano, where his 14 goals in 61 league games as a teenager attracted the attention of Premier League giants Chelsea.

England to Germany, and possibly back again?

He joined the Blues in 2008 as an 18-year-old, for a fee of £3.4 million, and made 16 appearances in all competitions in his first season, but failed to find the back of the net. He was thus sent out on loan to gain some more experience, especially of the league and of England, joining Blackburn Rovers for the 2009-10 season.

Yet, one goal in 24 games did not convince either Rovers or Chelsea and the latter would sell him in 2010 when he returned to Stamford Bridge that summer.

Wigan Athletic took di Santo off the Blues' hands for £2 million, and he would go on to have much greater fortune with the Latics, despite scoring just once in his first season. Seven goals in the following campaign and five the year after showed improvement, but it was still not good enough and he would be released in 2013.

Werder Bremen were able to snap him up on a free as a result, and they would see their patience pay off as, after he scored just four goals in his first season, di Santo scored 14 in 2014-15 as Bremen finished 10th in the league, this time avoiding the relegation dog fight by some distance thanks to the Argentine's good form.

Sunderland, on the other hand, finished just two places and three points above the drop this season, with their lack of a real goal-scorer the main reason. Conor Wickham and Jordi Gomez finished as the club's top-scorers this year, both on six, whilst Jermaine Defoe got five after signing in January.

However, if they are to push on under Dick Advocaat, who has just signed a new deal, Sunderland are going to need to be more of a threat going forward.

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About the author
Amee Ruszkai
Head of the Sunderland, Swansea City and women football sections at VAVEL UK. Email: [email protected]