CAT FLAP IN OVERDRIVE

EMANUELE GIACCHERINI finally made his permanent move from Sunderland last weekend. No surprise there. As Sam Allardyce said in this column five weeks ago, the midfielder’s impressive performances for Italy at Euro 2016 were not going to alter his situation with the Black Cats. It was just a question of which Italian club landed Giaccherini, 31, who had only a year remaining on his Stadium of Light contract. Napoli ended up being his destination in a £2million deal. But the added significance of the transfer was that Giaccherini (below) was the ELEVENTH senior player to leave Sunderland this summer – an entire team. And at the time of the Italian’s departure, no new players had arrived at the club, with uncertainty over Allardyce’s future – due to England’s managerial search – one of the reasons for that. Sunderland’s exit XI includes the four loan players at the club last season – DeAndre Yedlin, Yann M’Vila, Dame N’Doye and Ola Toivonen. Then there were four free transfers – Steve Harper, Wes Brown, Steven Fletcher and Danny Graham. There have also been three senior sales or loan moves involving Santiago Vergini, Sebastian Coates and Giaccherini. But the biggest departure of the lot, of course, is now Big Sam himself. Any Black Cats fans who are worried about the lack of activity, though, should see a lot of movement now David Moyes has taken charge. PAUL HETHERINGTON NOT