Chim deal close as Kaboul stalls
by Ben Blackmore, 25 July 2008
Roy Keane has confirmed he expects Pascal Chimbonda to be a Sunderland player in the next 48 hours, but it appears he could miss out on Younes Kaboul.
Keane has lined up Chimbonda as one part of a quadruple raid on Tottenham, which also includes Steed Malbranque and Teemu Tainio.
Tainio has already signed for The Black Cats, while right back Chimbonda has completed a medical ahead of an imminent move.
“There are loose ends with Pascal that we knew would maybe drag on,” Keane explained in The Daily Express.
“But we hope to tie them up with maybe one or two others by the weekend.”
Kaboul had appeared set to perform a miraculous U-turn when he turned up for talks at The Stadium of Light, following his agent’s revelation to setantasports.com that the defender would not join Sunderland ‘even if there was an earthquake’.
However, Kaboul has reportedly delayed the transfer amongst fresh speculation of a second bid from Aston Villa.
The French defender would prefer a move to Villa, who can offer him the chance of furthering his international claims by playing European football.