Ji Dong-Won is expected to make a full-time switch to the Bundesliga this summer – despite claiming that Sunderland are reluctant to let him go.
The Korean striker has failed to make any impression in the Premier League but is a wanted man in Germany after a successful loan spell at Augsburg last season.
A queue of Bundesliga clubs are known to be chasing the 22-year-old, with Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund understood to have already had a bid rejected while Freiburg, Stuttgart and Borussia Moenchengladbach are also interested.
Ji was interviewed in Korea as he prepared to return to Wearside for pre-season training this week and suggested that Sunderland were keen to keep him.
“To be honest, several clubs are interested in me after last season,” he said. “It’s why I’ve been thinking about a change of club, but Sunderland will not let me go.
“I will always do my best, no matter where I play. The most important thing for me is that I play as much as possible.”
However the Chronicle understands that Sunderland are ready to offload, although they will not let him leave on the cheap while he remains a wanted man in Germany.
For while Sunderland paid just £2m to sign the frontman from Chunnam Dragons in 2011, they are thought to want significantly more than the �5m Dortmund have offered.
Any money that comes in from the sale of Ji will be made available to boss Paolo Di Canio for team strengthening.
Di Canio has already signed six players this summer – Valentin Roberge, Modibo Diakite, Cabral, Vito Mannone, David Moberg Karlsson and Duncan Watmore – and a number of other deals are also in the pipeline. Le Havre full-back Benjamin Mendy was on Wearside for a second day of talks yesterday after Sunderland agreed a £3m price.
And midfielder El-Hadji Ba is also expected to become a Sunderland player this week after the Black Cats agreed compensation with Le Havre.
Panathinaikos winger Charas Mavrias is close to agreeing personal terms, with a £2.5m deal already agreed. And Argentinian club Velez Sarsfield say right-back Gino Peruzzi is on the verge of joining.
