Lamine Kone

The defender - who has been ruled out of Sunday's derby against Middlesbrough with a back injury - was offered the new deal on Thursday but Moyes revealed that the Ivory Coast international did not appear to want the new contract offer.

Moyes has previously said he expects Kone to stay at the club this summer after Everton last week lodged an Â£18million bid for the Ivory Coast international.

It led to a statement being put out in his name claiming Kone wanted a move after Sunderland had failed to offer him a promised new deal – a claim rejected by the club who this week decided to offer him a new deal earlier than the original September 1 date.

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The saga took a new twist this week and is set to drag on, with Everton still interested.

"We have given Kone a contract offer yesterday," said Moyes.

"We said we would wait until September but felt why don't we get it done.

"We gave it him yesterday, he didn't want it but we gave him it and handed it to him personally so he has got it, and he knows.

"He today came in and said he had a bad back. So, it makes him unavailable for Sunday's game."

Moyes added: "This is what the player has stated. So, you don't bother with those players who are not fit or injured, we bother with the ones who are.

"We are positive we are going to go in and get three points and work very hard towards it."

Last week Moyes revealed the 27-year-old was surprised when he was shown the statement he had apparently made asking for a transfer and claimed he had not seen it.

Moyes insisted the club is control when it comes to selling players.

Speaking generally, Moyes said:"Once they sign a contract we tell them, they can put in transfer requests, stamp their feet and say they are not playing but ultimately they don't go until we are ready to tell them to go.

"We might make decisions because we think it is a good deal or the right time, we choose to do that.