- EXCLUSIVE from Graeme Bailey
Sunderland have agreed to sell Alex Pritchard to Championship rivals Birmingham City with Tony Mowbray set to reunite with his former Black Cats ace to the tune of less than £500,000.
HITC Football understands that, only two months after his sacking from the Stadium of Light, Mowbray is returning to his old employers and snatching a player who will follow in his footsteps from the North East to the Midlands.
Alex Pritchard was due to become a free-agent at the end of the current campaign, with Sunderland seemingly deciding against handing the experienced playmaker fresh terms.
And Birmingham City have leapt at the opportunity to reunite Mowbray with the technically gifted 30-year-old at St Andrews’. HITC have been informed that a deal worth less than £500,000 has now been agreed.
Alex Pritchard will leave Sunderland for Birmingham City
An end to a distracting and rather unnecessary saga will come as a relief to the Black Cats. Sunderland felt compelled to release a statement before Saturday’s 3-1 triumph over Stoke City, Pritchard removing himself from contention and making no secret of his desire for a fresh start elsewhere.
“On Friday morning, Alex Pritchard informed the Club that he was no longer available for selection,” the statement read. “He subsequently withdrew from today’s matchday squad
“The midfielder also expressed his desire to leave SAFC with immediate effect.”
Pritchard, it seems, will now get his wish. The former Tottenham Hotspur prospect, who cost Huddersfield Town an eye-watering £11 million during their short-lived stay in the Premier League a few years back, leaves Sunderland for a Birmingham City side who are slowly pulling away from the relegation zone since hiring Mowbray as the replacement for the embattled Wayne Rooney.
‘He’s a wonderful footballer’
“What a good footballer he is,” Mowbray told The Chronicle in September, shortly before he vacated the Sunderland hot seat.
“I’m just amazed the phone hasn’t rang as much as it might have done, because he’s a wonderful footballer. We have to try and maximise his time on the pitch.”
HITC understands that there was also interest from Turkey and America in Pritchard. Serie B outfit Como – now under the stewardship of former Arsenal, Barcelona and Spain star Cesc Fabregas – were in contention too.
Sunderland starlets Pierre Ekwah and Anthony Patterson, meanwhile, have admirers in the Premier League.
The Black Cats have also agreed a deal worth £2 million for Standard Liege’s former Spurs starlet Romaine Mundle. He should undergo a medical on Wearside imminently.
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