Black Cats had wanted to take the player on loan at first.
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Sunderland have been told that they must pay £6.5m in order to sign in-demand Internacional attacking midfielder Ignacio Scocco, according to reports in the Daily Star.
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The Premier League strugglers had initially wanted to take the player on a six-month loan deal with a view to them signing the Argentina international on a permanent deal at the end of the season.
However, with the likes of River Plate and Newell’s Old Boys both also keen on landing the wide man, the Black Cats will have to fork out now on Scocco or risk losing out on the attacker.
“Internacional don’t want to loan Ignacio out, and the most likely outcome is that he will join Sunderland. Gus Poyet has told us he’s very interested in Ignacio joining them,” said Scocco’s dad Hector.