Sunderland are currently negotiating a swap deal with Leeds United for their second goalkeeper Andy Lonergan. Felix Wiedwald has taken over the number 1 spot for the Whites and the Lonergan has been limited to the benches and a few cup appearances. The player that Leeds are interested in has not been revealed just yet.
Lonergan started his professional career playing for his birthplace club, Preston North End and went on to make 228 appearances in eleven years. His talents earned him a move to the Championship with Leeds United. But after the arrival of Paddy Kenny, his spot as the first choice was lost and the 34-year-old was again traded away to Bolton Wanderers. After a couple of spells away to Fulham and Wolves, Lonergan made a return to Elland Road after Robert Green was released from his contract.
He has been capped just once for the Republic Of Ireland in 2000 after featuring for the England U20 side. Even though his professional career might not see any more minutes for the national side, he might just be able to see out his career with regular minutes in a Black Cats jersey.
Sunderland needs all the help they can get currently stranded at the bottom of the Championship. All of Chris Coleman’s January targets have failed to materialise and the former Wales manager is scouring the transfer market to sign attacking threats before the end of the month.
A second relegation in a successive season and a steep drop to the lower divisions is not something any fan would like to witness. It looks like the Black Cats are headed towards the doomed path. With a lack of resources to successfully sign proven talents, Coleman has had to work around the very limited resources he has been provided.
However, do they really need a goalkeeper at the moment with Jason Steele and Robbin Ruiter already tied down to the club further than the next season? Steele has been quite decent in the limited minutes he has received but Ruiter has struggled with consistency. His lacklustre display against Cardiff City allowed the hosts to slot in the opening goal and was greatly criticised by Micky Gray.
He was quoted, “It was catastrophic mistakes, firstly from Ruiter. It can’t happen. He’s running around players, flapping his arm at it. This is an experienced goalkeeper. He’s making silly mistakes every week, that is why he can’t pick between two goalkeepers.” Maybe Lonergan’s arrival will address the problems in between the sticks as Coleman tries to save their season by escaping the relegation zone.
