NIALL Quinn has revealed Sunderland are more confident of signing John O’Shea than Darron Gibson, but that their pursuit of the versatile Irishman has been held up by domestic issues.
The Black Cats had a combined £12m bid for the pair, and Manchester United club-mate Wes Brown, accepted at the start of June. Initially it seemed Gibson was the most likely to move to the Stadium of Light, with the midfielder publicly voicing his enthusiasm for the move. “If it came to it, I would love to play for Steve Bruce,” he said in mid-June.
But despite rival interest reported from Stoke City and Arsenal, O’Shea’s is now the deal Sunderland are most confident on.
It took a back seat last week because while Sunderland were busy pushing through the signings of Connor Wickham, Ji Dong-Won and Craig Gardner, O’Shea’s wife Yvonne was giving birth.
Now, though, with the Republic of Ireland international back in training, chairman Quinn is hopefully of completing the move.
“We are in there trying hard for John and will see if something can unravel,” he said. “We feel it is getting closer. John had good family news in the last few days with the birth of his child. We’ve had to back off, which is only correct. But the players are back in and we will see if something can unravel.”
O’Shea has made almost 400 appearances for the Red Devils. He played in their first European Cup final defeat to Barcelona, in 2009, but did not make the bench for May’s rematch.
The 30-year-old has played across the back line and in midfield for Sir Alex Ferguson, but it is in defence where Sunderland’s needs are the greatest, having had an otherwise extremely positive summer recruitment drive.
