Brighton & Hove Albion still remain keen on signing Sunderland midfielder Paddy McNair despite pushback from the Black Cats.
Brighton keen to sign McNair despite their original bid being rejected
The Seagulls saw their opening bid of £2 million rejected by the League One club, but talks are still ongoing about the possibility of signing the Northern Ireland international.
Albion are keen to add to their midfield options after they decided not to offer Steve Sidwell a new contract.
McNair is hoping to sort his out future after he returns from international duty with Northern Ireland.
He plays his last game of this season when Northern Ireland take on Costa Rica and McNair will be looking to build on his great performance in the 0-0 draw against Panama.
The midfielder had the following to say on his future: “If I can get back to the Premier League, that would be great, but I just want to concentrate on these Northern Ireland games and look at that afterwards.”
New Sunderland not willing to sell players cheaply
However, it seems as if new Sunderland owner, Stewart Donald is willing to let any players leave cheaply.
Donald spoke to BBC Radio Newcastle and said: "There are quite a lot of players who are on astronomical wages for League One, and some of them think that that means it will be very easy for them to disappear from Sunderland and go and earn that money somewhere else.
“The club has paid money for those players, and it isn’t as simple as that. There is a balancing act here."
The former Eastleigh owner went on to add: “The football club can afford to keep these players. The reality is that if they don’t want to be here and we don’t want them, then we need to get a sensible compromise but that means everybody will need to be fair.
“There is no way that the football club, having been relegated, should bear the brunt of things."
He concluded: “Currently, we have lots of offers for players but the offers are too low.”