David Moyes is confronting a central defensive problem after Lamine Koné declined Sunderland’s offer of a new contract, reiterated his determination to leave Wearside as soon as possible and then reported for Friday morning training complaining of a mysterious back problem.
Along with his erstwhile defensive partner, Younès Kaboul, Koné was a big reason why Sunderland managed to avoid relegation under Sam Allardyce last season. Now, though, he is high on Everton’s wanted list and Moyes has reluctantly given Kaboul permission to join Watford, with that transfer expected to be finalised shortly.
“Koné is definitely out of Sunday’s game,” said Moyes, whose injury-hit squad is almost as small as Hull’s before the Wear-Tees derby at home to Middlesbrough. “He came in this morning and said he has a bad back.”
Asked to clarify if Koné’s back problem had been confirmed by the club’s medical department, Moyes offered a pointed reply which seemed to endorse suggestions that the Ivory Coast international has, in effect, gone on strike.
“He says he’s got a bad back, he trained yesterday,” Moyes said. “We’ve offered him an immediate new contract but his choice is still to go, to leave. He said ‘no’ to the offer.”
Which does not mean Koné will necessarily be leaving the Stadium of Light. “We’re disappointed,” said Sunderland’s manager. “But he’s still got four years remaining on his current contract, so it’s not too big a deal to us. He asked us for a new contract and we offered him that but he turned it down.
“It’s not a great scenario but the player is ours. I’ve been in situations like this before and the players will go when we tell them to go, not when they want to go.”
Even so Sunderland are yet to reject the bid Everton made for Koné almost two weeks ago. “We’ve had an offer for him which we haven’t said yes or no to,” said Moyes. “We’ll have to see if he’ll still be a Sunderland player on September 1 but my hope would be ‘yes’.”
The Scot has more sympathy for Kaboul. “Younès came to me and said moving to Watford was something he’d like to do for his family; his family home is down there. We spoke about it a couple of times but he was quite keen and, reluctantly, we agreed to it.”
Although Moyes – also without the injured Jan Kirchhoff, Lee Cattermole and Seb Larsson on Sunday – is now working with a worryingly skinny squad, he has at least acquired one new face after the former Everton midfielder, Steven Pienaar, signed a one-year deal.
“We have some difficulties.” he said. “We’re working more hours than is possible because I know we need to get a stronger team and squad before transfer deadline day ends. We need to add players – and we need to add quality.”