North East newspaper, The Journal, is reporting that Sunderland are chasing the signature of out of contract Jordi Gomez. The midfielder has allowed his deal with Wigan to run down and has not yet signed an extensions, allowing Gus Poyet to swoop for the player.
Following the departure of Craig Gardner, and with continuing speculation that Seb Larsson and Jack Colback could leave the club when their contracts expire on 1 July, Sunderland are in serious need of midfielders.
The Spanish midfielder would certainly add something different to the Black Cats, having impressed in The Premier League while playing for Wigan.
The 29 year old spent his youth career at Barcelona before moving to English football with Swansea City on loan from Espanyol. He later went on to join Wigan Athletic in 2009 where he has made 123 league appearances.
Sunderland may face competition for his signature from Everton, whose manager Roberto Martinez worked with the player while he was in charge of the Lactics. However, the opportunity for more first team football at Sunderland might persuade him to move to Wearside.
The news that Poyet is chasing Gomez comes a day after the signing of Billy Jones and the confirmation that the manager had signed a new deal with the club until 2016. Speaking to the official Sunderland club website the manager said:
“Stability is absolutely key to long-term and sustained success for any football club, and this new contract gives both the club and me that stability going forward. “
Now that his long term future is sorted it seems Poyet can now get down to business and concentrate on bringing news players into the club, something that is vitally needed considering the large number of personnel who have left the club in recent weeks.