Sunderland would have had to pay a club-record fee to bring Federico Santander to the Stadium of Light from Danish football.
Flash back 12 months ago and Sunderland’s need for a new striker was as desperate then as it appears to be now. With the struggling Black Cats relying wholly upon the evergreen goal-poaching of Jermain Defoe, prolific Copenhagen striker Federico Santander emerged as a potential target ahead of the January transfer window.
Paraguayan newspaper Diario ABC Color stated that Sunderland were hoping to bring Santander to the Stadium of Light – but any transfer fee would likely have exceeded the club-record £13.7 million spent on Lorient enforcer Didier Ndong the previous summer.
And the phrase ‘lucky escape’ comes to mind when you consider Santander’s goal record since those rumours first emerged a year ago. The Paraguayan international has failed to score in 20 of his last 27 games for Copenhagen – and has just two in five games so far in 2017/18.
The last thing Sunderland need is another streaky striker – let alone one that would damage the club’s coffers even further.
The Shields Gazette reported that both Everton and Swansea were also interested in signing Santander in the transfer window. The fact that a player once so highly coveted is still at the same club one year one, and has barely been seen in the gossip columns since, suggest the opportunity to get a big break in England has passed him by.
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