Ndong money will go to club, not in Short’s pocket – Methven

ANY money Sunderland receive from Didier Ndong’s next move will go to them, not former owner Ellis Short, director Charlie Methven has promised.

The Black Cats sacked the midfielder in October after he failed to report for training for more than two months.

But the severance included an agreement that the next club Ndong signs for will have to pay compensation believed to be in the region of £3.5m. That is less than half the valuation Short put on Ndong when selling the club in May.

However, Methven has revealed he and new owner Stewart Donald refused to take that figure as read, so assumptions about the sale of Ndong and other players were taken out of the deal for the club.

“The original cashflow budget that was passed over to us included £8m coming in for Didier Ndong,” Methven explained. “That was the assumption, that he would be sold and for that fee. We said, well that’s fine but what happens if that doesn’t happen? We’re then left with an £8m hole in the cashflow. We accept that we’re taking over the club, so what each player does and doesn’t go for will be in the mix, we might get a bit more for some, less for others. But this is in the cashflow forecast, so we need you to drop it off the original up-front asking price. We will then pay you that when we’ve got past horrible August in terms of the things we had to pay for, whether he goes or not. In the meantime, you’ll get paid the £8m if it comes in now. It was just a timing and a cashflow point, but when that money comes in, it comes to the club.”