Black Cats closer to getting claws into United duo Brown and O’Shea
Brown, 31, travelled to Wearside yesterday and will have the checks with a view to completing his move today.
The Black Cats had a joint bid of more than £12m (€13.2m) for Brown and United team-mates John O’Shea and Darron Gibson accepted last month and have been working on the proposed deals ever since.
They are confident of persuading O’Shea that his future too lies at the Stadium of Light. But question marks remain over Gibson, who has also attracted interest from derby rivals Newcastle.
Bruce will hope for positive developments over the next 24 hours after a busy summer already, with Ahmed Elmohamady having made his loan move permanent and Connor Wickham, Craig Gardner, Ji Dong-won, Ireland’s Keiren Westwood and Sebastian Larsson having joined the club.
Meanwhile Manchester United first-team coach Rene Meulensteen has claimed that he “could not think of a more ideal player for our team” than Wesley Sneijder. Sneijder has been heavily linked with United over the summer as a potential replacement for Paul Scholes.
The Dutch playmaker’s quality is not in doubt, as he proved in guiding Inter to a treble in 2010, when he was also part of the Dutch team that reached the World Cup final. Sneijder has previously expressed a liking for United too and Meulensteen is certain Sneijder would be a big hit.
“The new Paul Scholes doesn’t exist, just as a new Roy Keane has never emerged, but Sneijder would fit perfectly here,” Meulensteen told Dutch magazine Voetbal International.
“I cannot actually think of a more ideal player for our team.
“I’ve worked here a while, I know the team inside out and I know he’d be a great signing. He seems a perfect complement to the likes of (Javier) Hernandez, (Wayne) Rooney, Park (Ji-sung), (Ashley) Young, (Antonio) Valencia, Nani and (Ryan) Giggs.
“I don’t know what his future is at Inter, whether he may leave or whether he’s affordable. But, purely based on skills, I say get Sneijder.”
