Gordon set to hang up boots

Former Sunderland goalkeeper Craig Gordon may be forced into an early retirement by a persistent knee injury.



The 30-year-old became the most expensive goalkeeper in the history of British football in 2007 when the Black Cats paid Hearts £9m for his services - but his career has since been hampered by several serious injuries.

Two broken arms and the knee problem plagued the latter years of his stay at the Stadium of Light, and he has been without a club this season - seen most recently in a coaching capacity at Dumbarton.

The Scotland international said: "It's very unlikely I will be playing again this season. In fact I'm not sure if I'll play again, so I'm looking to get into coaching as I want to remain in the game.

"I'm not ruling out playing again, but I need to get things in place if the news is not good in that respect. I've had a couple of surgeries on it, but it's definitely not back to 100 per cent yet.

"Hopefully I can get back to playing with a bit of pain. It's about getting to a stage where I can get what I need to out of the knee.



"That's part of the reason I wanted to go into coaching, you don't know when the end might come for playing. I'm certainly not ready to throw in the towel just yet but it's been a long time and I don't know where I'll be going in the future."

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Sunderland agree Mangane loan

Sunderland have agreed a loan deal to sign Kader Mangane, with the move set to go through once the Senegal international has passed a medical.



Mangane left French side Rennes last summer to join Saudi Arabian outfit Al Hilal, after being linked with a number of Premier League sides.



While it is thought Al-Hilal initially rejected the bid, the size of which is unknown, it has now been confirmed Mangane will be joining Martin O'Neill's side.



Mangane has reportedly agreed to a six-month deal with the Black Cats.



Al Hilal president Prince Abdulrahman previously revealed they had received a bid from Sunderland, he said: "We received the official bid from Sunderland for Mangane."

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Tuesday's round up of the top transfer stories

- Sunderland striker Ji Dong-won has joined German side Augsburg on loan until the end of the season.



- Manchester United are confident of signing Everton defender Leighton Baines during this month's transfer window, according to the Daily Mail.



- And Man Utd will launch an £8million bid for Crystal Palace starlet Wilfried Zaha this week, according to the Daily Mirror.



- Arsenal have tabled a £10million bid for Atletico Madrid forward Adrian Lopez, according to Goal.com.



- And Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insists he has no plans to launch a bid for Manchester United winger Nani this month.



- Southampton boss Nigel Adkins claims Arsenal will face a tough time if they target Luke Shaw.



- Arsenal have dropped their interest in Wilfried Zaha – because Theo Walcott is set to sign a new deal, according to talkSPORT.



- Arsene Wenger confirmed record goalscorer Thierry Henry will not be returning to Arsenal on loan this month.



- Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas says he is still an admirer of Shakhtar Donetsk playmaker Willian and Internacional striker Leandro Damiao.



- Tottenham Hotspur have emerged as the frontrunner to sign German wunderkind Lewis Holtby.



- Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet has moved to deny recent reports that he could be heading away from the Stadium of Light in the January transfer window.



- Sunderland have added Hungary defender Roland Juhasz to their list of defensive targets for January.



- Harry Redknapp has admitted Joe Cole is on top of his list of January transfer target and hints at moves for Diame and Remy.



- Newcastle boss Alan Pardew hopes completing a deal for a player of Mathieu Debuchy's quality will be a signal to the rest of his squad to commit their future.



- Newcastle will consider a move for West Ham striker Modibo Maiga if they fail to prise Loic Remy from Marseille.



- Steve Clarke has not spoken to Chelsea about the possibility of losing Romelu Lukaku and hopes the striker will see out the season with West Bromwich Albion.



- Rangers midfielder Kyle Hutton believes the Ibrox club will hold on to all of their players during the January transfer window.



- Inter Milan may come to Liverpool’s rescue over on-loan midfielder Nuri Sahin.



- Napoli’s sporting director Riccardo Bigon has confirmed the Italian club will let Chilean striker Eduardo Vargas, who has been targeted by Grêmio, São Paulo and Flamengo, leave the club on loan in January.



- Bayer Leverkusen are interesting in signing Bayern Munich teenagers Emre Can and Mitchell Weiser.



- Corinthians' director of football insists that no bids have been made for their star midfielder Paulinho.



- Stoke's Danny Higginbotham has joined Sheffield United on a free transfer.



- Walsall have signed Nottingham Forest keeper Karl Darlow on loan for a month with a view to extending it to the end of the season.



- Yeovil have signed former Shelbourne midfielder Kevin Dawson until the end of the season.



- Wycombe Wanderers have signed QPR defender Michael Harriman on a one month youth loan.



- Plymouth Argyle have sacked manager Carl Fletcher following the New Year's Day defeat at Bristol Rovers.

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McClean received death threats

Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill has confirmed winger James McClean has been the target of death threats.



The 23-year-old came in for criticism after opting not to sport a Remembrance Day poppy on his shirt during the Black Cats' 2-1 defeat at Everton last weekend.



"James will deal with it (the booing). I think it is to do with the issue last week, it's a free choice in this world," he said."James has lived with a lot of things - he's getting death threats too now so that doesn't help."



McClean was introduced by O'Neill as a second-half substitute in the 3-1 win at Fulham and received a mixed response from the travelling Sunderland supporters.



It is understood that police are investigating the threats which were directed towards McClean on Twitter, although the player no longer uses the social networking site.

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Saha desperate for first goal

Louis Saha is determined his first Sunderland goal will be an important one.



The 34-year-old Frenchman heads for former club Everton at the weekend still awaiting his opening strike for the Black Cats.



He does so with Martin O'Neill's men desperately short of confidence and having managed only one Barclays Premier League victory in 17 attempts dating back to March.



However, while desperate to break his duck, Saha will only be happy if his maiden goal in a red and white shirt results in a tangible reward for his team.



He told the Sunderland Echo: "You always work hard for that first goal and the pressure is off when you get it.



"But you want to make sure you get when it's the right moment. You don't want to score when you're 3-0 down and you don't need it."



Saturday's 1-0 home defeat by Aston Villa left the Black Cats still searching for just their second league win of the campaign and sliding inexorably down the table.



O'Neill remains confident his side will start to fire soon, but the fact remains they mustered only one shot on target at the weekend, and that from midfielder Lee Cattermole 84 minutes into the game.



Saha said: "You always want to do more and I think the team can do it and as a player, I think I can do more as well.



"When you're drawing many games, you always expect more because we are here to win games. But we are training to improve.



"We have done okay, but the fans can ask more because they see things.



"But football is a difficult job and I really think we are close to winning games."

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Sunderland bid for Fletcher

Reports emanating from the North East claim Sunderland have submitted a bid of £10 million for Wolves striker Steven Fletcher.



Fletcher, 27, is a a long-time target of the Wearsiders and, following the departures of Nicklas Bendtner and Asamoah Gyan, Martin O'Neill is desperate to bolster his attacking options.



The Scotland forward, who has netted 36 times in three seasons, is considered O'Neill's No. 1 target and Sunderland believe they can tempt Wolves with a £10 million offer.



However, Wolves chief executive Jez Moxey appeared to warn the Wearsiders off the striker on Monday, stating that the club's best players are not for sale.



Despite these claims, Wolves have also looked to add to their strikeforce this summer with the signings of Frank Nouble and Björn Sigurðarson from West Ham and Lillestrom respectively.



Fletcher has been at Molineux since 2009, when he arrived from Burnley for a club record fee of £7 million.

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