Sunderland have decided to refuse an option to purchase on-loan midfielder Sulley Muntari, and have confirmed that the Ghana international will return to Inter immediately. The 26 year-old, who has also featured in the Premier League for Portsmouth, failed to impress Steve Bruce following his arrival in January, with the Black Cats’ boss politely acknowledging: “Sulley has been a great professional in his time here and naturally we’d like to thank him for his contribution to our season and wish him all the best for the future.”
Although Muntari didn’t do enough to earn a further season at the Stadium of Light, several other loan signings can certainly claim to have contributed enough to their adopted Premier League clubs this season to force their temporary managers to consider splashing the cash. Daniel Sturrdige’s 8 goals in twelve starts for Bolton catapulted the Chelsea striker in to most Premiership managers’ consciousness. The former Manchester City apprentice had struggled to assert himself at Stamford Bridge during his first two seasons following his free transfer from Eastlands, and the £50million January arrival of Fernando Torres suggested a premature end to his time at Stamford Bridge.
But the England Under-21 forward, clearly with a point to prove, outshone his Spanish team-mate, and is likely to attract serious offers from the Premier League’s developing clubs outside of the top four this summer. “It’s great to have this opportunity [playing for Bolton] and it has been good to show Chelsea what I’m all about,” Sturridge told Chelsea’s official website last week. “It was difficult for me not starting as many games as I’d have liked, as a young player with a lot of pressure you have to take the opportunities that are in front of you,” he added.
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He undoubtedly took his opportunity – with both feet – and was curiously ignored by Fabio Capello for England’s Euro 2012 qualifier with Switzerland on June 4th even after Jermain Defoe’s withdrawal left the Italian with just Bobby Zamora, Peter Crouch and Darren Bent as forward options for next month’s Wembley encounter. While Sturridge is likely to attract a plethora of offers from all directions, now his loan contract has terminated, what happens to the other loanees whose short spells away from their parent clubs failed to encourage a turn in form? John Carew was considered a shrewd addition to Tony Pulis’ Stoke squad when he joined the club in January, especially considering his physical attributes are compatible with the Potters’ robust style, but the Norwegian only managed to find the net once in the League, and failed to finish any of his chances during the first six months of the season playing for Aston Villa.
The striker will be 32 within a month of next season’s inauguration, so represents a risky option for a Stoke side who have appeared to alter their transfer tact recently in order to identify younger, more progressive flair. On a more positive note, Jamie O’Hara seems to have won the hearts of his provisional faithful at Wolves, having scored in the club’s final game of the season to secure the Molineux side’s Premiership status for another year. The Tottenham midfielder has almost forged an entire career from being loaned away from White Hart Lane, and Mick McCarthy would do well to seriously consider making a permanent move for the 24 year-old who should himself be seeking some stability at his age. “There’s a deal on the table and Wolves need to say they want me, a fee has been agreed with Tottenham, but the deal has got to be done within a week. That’s up to the chairman and the gaffer to see what they want to do,” the former Arsenal trainee announced this week. “I want to stay. Hopefully the gaffer will want me to stay. Hopefully I’ll be speaking to him over the next week or so and get something sorted,” a confident O’Hara added.
It will be interesting to see where any of this season’s loan signings will end up come August, not least Emmanuel Adebayor, who will face particular scrutiny on his return to Manchester City from his short, and unexpected, stint at Real Madrid. Although loaning out players usually enables them to return with renewed confidence, and signing players on loan represents a low-risk transfer strategy, not all of the short-term additions have flourished this season, and an intriguing summer of transfer activity awaits.
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