Despite agreeing a fee with Lorient for Lamine Kone's services last week and the Senegal international travelling to Wearside, we have been kept waiting for confirmation that the defender had joined the club.

It now appears as if the move is off after the 26-year-old returned to Lorient and, according to French newspaper Ouest France, failed to agree a contract with Sunderland. This follows his team-mate Lamine Gassama also failing to agree a contract with Sunderland in similar circumstances.

Although Kone has returned to France, he has not been considered for his club's game against Rennes at the weekend and Lorient are considering a legal response after he also missed the Coupe De France games against Tours.

As Gassama explained in his recent interview, there is always a chance a move can be resurrected if the two parties can resolve their differences but as it stands any move for Kone is dead.

In hopefully better news, Jan Kirchhoff appears to be edging closer to completing his Sunderland move after speaking about the impending move in the German press and claiming he turned down moves to three Bundesliga sides to move to England;