Is it a Stadium of new Light?

WHAT attracted 22-year old French heir Kyril Louis-Dreyfus to Sunderland Association Football Club?

That’s the puzzling question that needs to be asked of the kid who, alongside existing 20 per cent shareholder Juan Sartori, is close to securing a joint 80 per cent stake in the Wearside club.

Has Louis-Dreyfus (below) always been a distant admirer of striker Charlie Wyke? A lover of the beautiful beach at Roker or the impressive Northern Spire Bridge?

The chance to buy an 80 per cent stake in a club that has a Premier League stadium, fan-base and training ground, yet chasing promotion for a third season in League One, is an enticing one.

But forgive Sunderland fans if they step back from this potential deal and wonder what’s really going on. What are the motivations?

Louis-Dreyfus has a £2billion trust fund burning a hole in his pocket after the 2009 death of his father Robert, who once owned Marseille. “He’s got his own reality version of FIFA, and he’s going to play at Sunderland,” said one sceptical fan.

Business partner Sartori, a Uruguayan businessman and politician, lapped up the spotlight of being around Sunderland’s trips to Wembley in recent seasons.

Is Sunderland about to become a rich kids plaything, or can they prove to be serious football people with a plan?

Or is this a convenient rearranging of the shareholdings stakes to take unpopular owner Stewart Donald out of the firing line. Why will he stay on with a 15 per cent stake – why not a full buyout?

Sunderland fans have been burned before. They must pray that the latest ownership reshuffle brings in serious operators with fresh, modern thinking on how to build a club. Not chancers after a bit of adulation and limelight.