11 things you said about: Patrick van Aanholt’s £14m move to Crystal Palace
Sunderland left-back Patrick van Aanholt is on the move to relegation rivals Crystal Palace in a deal that could be worth up to £14million. Black Cats chief executive Martin Bain revealed in a statement that Van Aanholt had handed in a transfer request and told the club he didn’t want to play for them again. Here’s what Sunderland fans and our readers have been saying about the Dutchman online.
1 I fully believe this is the start of a fire sale at the club... to sell him to a club who is a relegation rival is an absolute disgrace – johnjoe
2 PVA was hopeless at defending and we seemingly couldn’t find a way to cover for his shortcomings after Sam left, so best to grab the 9M and hope it rises to the apparent 14M suggested – I think he is only the 4th player on whom we have made a profit over the last decade – Edinburgh mackem
3 Sold a player for potential 14 million and all talk is about a loan deal as a replacement – black cat dave
4 We still have a very real chance of getting out of this and PVA was poor defensifly so maybe this is an absouloute blessing and hopefull we pick up 3 new signings out of the funds that are going to be freed up. We need a midfielder to link up play and a target man up front and a full back possibly but I wouldnt be against giving a youth player a chance – Dubbus
5 take the money and run . He is not worth that – he is a liability at the back. – al49
6 If we can get 14mill for a defender who can’t defend, snap the hands off the mugs who actually want him. On your way Pat and make
sure you go to a club who has got a decent enough player to cover you after you are venturing forward time and again leaving massive gaps for average players to destroy us time and again – grindon realist not a dreamer
7 Please can anyone explain the point of signing a contract to play for a club? If he’s withdrawing from his contract to play ...withhold his wages – redgirl
8 So PVA and SAFC couldn’t stick together .... and we are we the only club that says ‘oh, you want to leave? Ok then.’ – jojowad
9 Watching him recently it looked like he made his mind up weeks ago. Last week the only thing missing was a pair of trousers so he could put his hands in the pockets while he was wandering about watching someone chasing the players he was supposed to be marking – Colly
10 We need players that are indentified with the club .... And not those mercenaries like this Dutch guy – sergi mackem
11 I find this announcement by Martin Bain and the club very unprofessional, why did he have to back stab a player and blame PVA for this transfer – nodrog1965