Sunderland are weighing up an offer for ex-Manchester City goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon report The Northern Echo.
Manager Gus Poyet is interested in the Romanian to bolster his goalkeeping options. The 27 year old is an experienced player but has not been given a new contract by Manchester City. Manuel Pellegrini has set a number of players to release on 1 July, and it was widely expected that Pantilimon would leave the club due to his limited appearances.
The Black Cats are in need of a new goalkeeper after Oscar Ustari left the club at the end of the season. The only other senior player for that position at the club is the still relatively inexperienced Jordan Pickford. The 20 year old has yet to make an appearance for Sunderland’s first team, spending most of his time at the club on loan.
However any deal with the 6’8” keeper would likely hinge on how much first team football he would expect to see. Having played a secondary role to Joe Hart for most of his time at Manchester City it is unlikely that he would want to move to another club where he would see limited appearances.
The same paper also claims that Sunderland are interested in the out of contract Julian Speroni, who was set to be released from Crystal Palace earlier this month despite being their established No. 1. A deal for Speroni would probably also be subject to the amount of game time he would get at the club.
Sunderland are looking to bring in a host of new players after surviving relegation this season. A number of players, including Carlos Cuellar, Andrea Dossena, Phil Bardsley and Craig Gardner, have already left the club and more are expected to follow.
By Nathan Gibson
