No Dunne deal yet as Black Cats made sweat
New boss Steve Bruce has been heavily linked with a £5million (€6m) move for the 29-year-old Republic of Ireland international since his unveiling as Ricky Sbragia’s replacement, despite heading straight off to resume his interrupted holiday.
Dunne has emerged as a target amid speculation big-spending City are eyeing Everton’s Joleon Lescott and Arsenal’s Kolo Toure this summer.
However, the Black Cats still do not know whether City manager Mark Hughes will be prepared to let the Dubliner leave Eastlands even if he does land his defensive targets.
And even if he is allowed to go, Sunderland are certain to face competition for a player who starred in Ireland’s 1-1 draw in Bulgaria at the start of this month as the Republic edged closer to next summer’s World Cup finals.
Meanwhile new Reading manager Brendan Rodgers has insisted he will ‘respect’ Stephen Hunt if the winger asks to leave the Royals.
Hunt stayed with the Royals following their relegation from the Premier League at the end of the 2007/8 season.
The Ireland winger has regularly been linked with a move away from the Madejski Stadium and the speculation has intensified since Reading failed to win promotion back to the top flight.
Sunderland and Everton are thought to be interested and Rodgers maintains that he would not stand in the way of any player.
“I will always pay respect to players,’’ Rodgers said.
“Once you’ve been in the Premier League and have shown that you can play in there, it can be very difficult to spend your time in the Championship.
“It’s not something new, I think Stephen was looking to go last season but decided to stay right through thinking Reading might go up. For a large part of the season it looked like they would. But they didn’t and obviously he has a choice to make.
“If Stephen decides it’s time for him to move on then I will respect that decision. He’s a good lad, a good man and I’m sure we will get to some sort of agreement.”
