A player that St Etienne announced they ‘no longer counted on’ about a month ago arrived back at his club on Friday where it was announced he would likely be reintegrated into the squad after failed talks in Turin with Torino.
Saint Etienne had accepted an offer from Serie A side Torino for €2.75m plus bonuses for the full back but when Ghoulam arrived for talks in Italy, he failed to agree personal terms.
However, it is understood that Torino have not completely given up on signing the player and were considering making an improved contract offer yesterday.
The British press has linked Ghoulam with a move to Championship side QPR who we can confirm have been in contact with Saint Etienne. However, no formal offer has been made by the London based club.
Granada made a loan offer for the player about a month ago of a €500k loan fee plus a €2.5m buy out clause in the contract. Saint Etienne rejected the offer on the basis that they want to sell the player outright for €3m.
Sunderland have come in in the last week with an identical offer to Granada’s Get French Football News understands and Saint Etienne would be happy to do business with them it appears.
The problem at the moment is that either Sunderland need to up their offer for the buy out clause (increase it by €1m to close to €3.5m) or they must make a transfer offer and not loan offer.
A transfer offer of €3m plus bonuses would make Saint Etienne sell.
If no agreement is reached in the next 36 hours or so, then the full back will be reintegrated into the first team squad at Saint Etienne.
More on this emerging story as we get it.
