Yann M’Vila shuns Black Cats

Yann M’Vila will not be returning to Sunderland after a change of heart by the player. Chief Executive Martin Bain confirmed the club’s decision not to enforce a three-and-a-half-year contract that was apparently in place.

However – and here’s the rub – I am not disappointed. Not as much as I thought I would be anyway.

The decision does not come as too much of a shock either given the way in which the Black Cats’ summer transfer window concluded. M’Vila infamously posted via his Instagram account that he was ‘heartbroken’ that a proposed move fail to materialise on deadline day.

The midfielder returned to Russia and parent club Rubin Kazan in the summer following what can only be described as a resoundingly successful loan spell. His time on Wearside seemed, on the face of it, a perfect marriage.

Up until that point the French international, who was considered in the same regard as the likes of Paul Pogba during the early stages of his career, struggled to find a club he could really settle at. M’Vila found himself courting controversy with more than one manager choosing to remove him from their squads at various stages of his career. Inter Milan, Dynamo Moscow and Rubin Kazan have all elected to pass on the burden of managing his alleged challenging behaviour.

If we are honest, perhaps it was for that reason he ended up at Sunderland. However, M’Vila seemed to use the move to re-ignite his career, and in doing so his performances certainly lit up the Stadium of Light throughout the season. It is difficult to remember a midfielder more technically gifted to wear the red and white stripes and for that reason he is a great loss to the squad.

As the loan deal concluded all signs seemed to point to a swift return as both Sam Allardyce and the player made positive noises about making the switch permanent.

Unfortunately, Big Sam’s departure ruptured a huge hole in the club’s transfer plans and perhaps the M’Vila deal, or lack thereof, was symptomatic of that.

Once David Moyes took over the reigns at Sunderland he will have rightly looked to assess the squad he inherited and the options available to him in terms of transfer targets. The fact that a contract was in place suggests that the M’Vila was in the Scot’s thinking. Of course the burning question now is if that was the case then why did the move not get sanctioned during the summer.

It is certain to be a combination of issues but high on that list is likely to be money. Rumours abounded that Rubin Kazan were holding out for a significant sum despite M’Vila’s contract coming to an end in the new year. This would have left the Frenchman free to join Sunderland without the Black Cats paying a penny to the Russian side. The decision making process seems to have been based largely on why pay a fee for a player who will be available for nothing in a short space of time.

Purely from a speculative point of view the Black Cats look to have taken a gamble to try and save money - and it has not paid off.

However, putting all of the challenges around the transfer to one side, I cannot say I’m too concerned. When you distil the matter down to its simplest form the player has publicly stated he did not wish to join the club. All this, despite claiming he was ‘heartbroken’ not to join only a few short months ago and having an agreement to do so in place.

Whether there is a valid claim to suggest that the change in the player’s thinking is down to the way in which the transfer was managed by the club in the summer is anyone’s guess. However, if a signed agreement can collapse at this stage of proceedings then I would have significant concerns about that player’s ability to give 100% to the cause should the deal have been enforced.

The fact of the matter is, as the Black Cats themselves have declared in a statement on the club website,

“Any player that we bring to Sunderland Football Club must be wholly committed”

On this basis perhaps the decision is best for all parties. Everyone can move on with the no doubt significant wages set aside for M’Vila being freed up for exciting fresh talent in the January transfer window.