Sunderland and Crystal Palace were involved in an extraordinary deadline-day tug of war that concluded with Malick Fofana agreeing to swap Lyon for the Stadium of Light in a club-record £31m move.
On Tuesday morning it had seemed that the 21-year-old Belgium winger was heading for Sunderland on a five-year contract, but then Pierre Sage led an attempt to hijack the deal. Palace’s manager coached Fofana at Lyon and forged a strong bond with a player he was keen to bring to Selhurst Park. After speaking to Sage on the phone, Fofana seemed to have changed his mind and decided he wanted to reunite with his old boss in south London. Sunderland, though, refused to surrender.
That meant Lyon had a bidding war on their hands and responded by agreeing improved deals with both clubs. Agents’ fees and Fofana’s personal terms were also understood to have risen accordingly. Meanwhile, two private jets, one dispatched by Sunderland and the other by Palace, sat on the tarmac at Lyon airport.
At one point Fofana was said to have been seen boarding the former aircraft before a flight to Newcastle airport but, in reality, he was headed to a private hospital in France for a medical commissioned jointly by Palace and Sunderland. With time running out, both clubs accepted this unusual arrangement was the only way a player targeted by Arsenal throughout much of the window would be heading to England.
In an attempt to remind Fofana, who scored 11 goals in 59 appearances for Lyon since arriving from Gent in 2024, why he had originally been so excited about playing for Régis Le Bris on Wearside, Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, Sunderland’s owner, flew to Lyon – presumably on a third jet – and spoke to him privately. It appears to have proved an inspired intervention as, shortly after 9pm, Fofana announced that he had made his choice and would be travelling to the Stadium of Light after all.
Although the initial fee agreed is £26m, add-ons dictate it should eventually rise to £31m. That leaves a forward capped five times by Belgium set to become Sunderland’s record signing, eclipsing the £30m paid to Strasbourg for midfielder Habib Diarra last summer. Sunderland have submitted a deal sheet and expect it to be concluded shortly.
