Neil

A very good sum, yes, but the issues for me are: a) Will he have all that to spend - Short has injected a fair bit into the club, perhaps he wants a bit back? b) Who can they attract? Highly doubtful they can get anyone who can consistently score as much as Bent has. If they get someone near him they'll have done well. c) IMO they are in fact forced to get someone. Welbeck is apparently injured for 6 weeks (confirmed?) and Sunderland are desperately short up front. Playing with 1 up top is an option but in my view they are much better when they have 2 up front.

Yep. Yes, Villa will climb up the table but still - it's a blow to fans who on one hand legitimately could claim they were in a great position (nowhere near relegation, top 10 spot looking likely), but on the other to those who genuinely believed they would finish in Europe this year. Certainly a smack round the chops.

KD: thoughts on how Pienaar will fit in? Pleased he went to your lot over Chelsea, at least he's got a chance of getting some decent game time. I assume he won't be starting, but he'll be useful to come on, possibly also backup for VDV in that AMC role? I'm not going to lie, even if it is due to his contract running out, it's a painfully good deal.

Is the £18m figure accurate?

Holy fuck. This is NEW news. Neesy: putting the NEW into (twitter is telling me this) NEWS.

Really? That'll hurt a few Sunderland fans. Their ex-favourite putting them in their place when he'd much play for a side having a massively below-par season.

Huh? The cricket/rugby bloke for SSN (or used to be when I last watched) has suddenly become AVFC Reporter?

Sealed.

Yep, totalling a £22m deal. [/reusejoke]

Fair enough, didn't know there were others who acted in a similar way on Sunday, albeit not to a player. Is there likely to be any sort of real sanctions against Sunderland here or just a standard "don't do it again!" and £5 fine?

I'm sorry to break the news, but...

I must have missed something - Bruce has already said he hopes the lad is banned for a while and that that sort of behaviour is unacceptable.

He's only on loan though - that means Sunderland have more of a chance of getting him.

I'm enjoying the tales of Blef's increasingly depressed neighbour.

What's worse: the suggestion they could get Cavani, or the apparent logic of why it's realistic? Also, they're comparing VdV going to Spurs as an example of why Sunderland should be able to go for the likes of Cavani, Negredo etc. Fucking hell.

Unless there's been a spectacular fallout behind the scenes (and that's not after Bruce's 3rd curry of the day), he won't go. He's consistently saying about what a "good, young side" they have and Bent going, albeit a big blow, wouldn't massively change that by itself.

Please tell me he didn't say that? Yep. (Did he criticise Krul? I'm not entirely aware of the story.)

Danny Mills the roaming reporter.

On now.

Partially it's him aiming, and it's a good tactic, but there's no doubt he does scuff a lot though. Still, I think he very consciously keeps them low so I guess it's hard to really make it look like sweet, clean connections when they're cutting across the ground.

Where would you get that kind of money from though? Pienaar. IT ALL FALLS INTO PLACE!

Game called off due to rain is where the sensible money's going.

What should I bet on? Game called off due to snow. Knob.

This is really frustrating from my perspective. Exactly the sort of player we need - we could derail the bid with a last-gasp offer for £1.8m rising to £2.4m, I reckon.