Alan Virginius, a Lille winger, is a target for Sunderland a year after reportedly having doubts about a move to their Premier League-based North East rivals Newcastle United.
As they say, hindsight is a wonderful thing. And how Alan Virginius must have wished he could have seen the future when choosing Lille over, say, Newcastle United.
According to Le10 Sport, Newcastle were interested in Virginius during the summer of 2020. The same can be said for Bayer Leverkusen, Anderlecht, and Club Brugge.
The then-Sochaux talent, however, chose to stay in France and continue his growth, finally signing with Lille, apparently in the expectation of taking up where Eden Hazard, Nicolas Pepe, Rafael Leao, and others left off.
Sunderland are now looking for Virginius, Alan
Virignius’ Lille career, on the other hand, demonstrates that not even Les Dogues, a team with such an amazing track record for uncovering attacking talents, get it right every time. If Hazard was the jewel in Lille’s crown, Virginius has been fool’s gold, appearing in only 71 minutes of Ligue 1 action in 2023/24.
A departure appears to be imminent before the end of the month.
“He has the option of joining another club.” “He will have a difficult time playing here,” Lille manager Paulo Fonsenca remarked. “He’s young.” He must participate.
“I spoke with him and I think the best solution is for him to play for another club.”
Newcastle will play Sunderland in the third round of the FA Cup.
According to Foot Mercato, a Sunderland side that saw a £4.3 million bid rejected back in August (RMC Sport) is once again interested in a player who could have joined one North East powerhouse a year and a half ago and is now a target for their most fierce rivals.
Sunderland have recently done a lot of buying in the Ligue 1 market. Timothee Pembele, Eduard Michut, Eliezer Mayenda, Abdoullah Ba, Adil Aouchiche, and Isaac Lihadji all came across from teams on the other side of the Channel to join the Black Cats.
Sunderland will meet Newcastle in the third round of the Tyne Wear FA Cup this Saturday. And it is not impossible that a player who was on the Magpies’ radar not long ago would find himself wearing the red-and-white stripes of their rivals before the end of the month.
