Rangers right-back James Tavenier was reportedly considering his Ibrox future in January when Championship giants Sunderland expressed an interest.
Four months ago, The Mail reported that Sunderland were hopeful of striking a bargain deal to sign assist machine right-back James Tavernier from Rangers.
The former Newcastle United youngster at the time had 18 months left on his contract, and Tavernier, who Rangers signed for £200,000 from Wigan Athletic in 2016, was understood to be interested in a return to England.
But despite being part of Rangers’ humiliating 5-0 defeat at Celtic on Sunday with Graeme Murty’s side ending a once promising season in disastrous fashion, it’s fair to say Tavernier will not be seeing that proposed move to Sunderland as a missed opportunity.
Because The Black Cats appear to have used up every one of their lives. Sunderland have suffered a second successive relegation, meaning they’ve gone from the Premier League to League One in less than 12 months, and have now sacked manager Chris Coleman as the club face an uncertain future in the third tier of English football.
Tavernier, who signed a new contract until 2021 back in February, now has far better offers on the table.
A move to Sunderland might have been tempting back in January, but Tavernier appears to have dodged a bullet there.
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