Sunderland boss David Moyes will reportedly have to splash out £10m of his budget if he wishes to sign Adnan Januzaj from Manchester United this summer.
The 21-year-old has been deemed surplus to requirements by United manager Jose Mourinho, and will in turn seek a fresh start elsewhere.
Given the fact that Moyes gave him his initial chance to break into the senior team at Old Trafford in 2013, The Sun claim that he wants a reunion with his former boss.
However, he isn’t interested in a loan move to the Stadium of Light and wishes to make a permanent switch, a factor that may complicate the situation as the former agreement would certainly suit Moyes’ budget with the Black Cats better.
It’s added in the report that the Scottish tactician wants to follow the same type of model he used so successfully at Everton. Having identified and acquired talented players in the early development stage of their careers, he made the most of limited resources at Goodison Park with great results.
In turn, a big-money signing such as splashing out £10m on Januzaj would be a significant departure from that model, although it will arguably take such figures in today’s market to pick up top talents anyway.
Whether or not Januzaj is willing to reconsider the idea of a loan move remains to be seen, as ultimately he’ll have little choice the closer it gets to the deadline as he will not want to sit on the sidelines and watch on at Old Trafford all season.
After being tipped to be the next big thing at United, the Belgian winger endured a failed loan spell at Borussia Dortmund last season while making just five Premier League appearances under Louis van Gaal.