Sunderland ‘reluctantly’ granted permission to talk to McInnes

Aberdeen have “reluctantly” granted permission to Sunderland to speak to their manager Derek McInnes.

A gloomy day for the Dons support was made worse when the club later accepted a £1.3 million bid from Celtic for midfielder Jonny Hayes in a deal which will also see Hoops’ Ryan Christie return to Pittodrie on loan.

The Dons insist they will not give up on their manager without a fight and are ready to make McInnes the club’s highest paid manager with the biggest budget in the Reds’ history in an attempt to keep him at Pittodrie.

Director Dave Cormack insisted the Dons would do all they could to keep McInnes at Pittodrie and “would move Heaven and Earth to try to get him to extend his contract” which runs until 2019.

But there appears to be only a slim chance of that happening, with McInnes set to land the £900,000-a-year job at Sunderland.

The Black Cats have been targeting McInnes to replace David Moyes, who left in the wake of their relegation to the Championship last season.

McInnes reemerged as the favourite to succeed Moyes after another prospective candidate, Garry Monk, was unveiled by north-east neighbours Middlesbrough in Monday.

McInnes has two years of his contract to run at Pittodrie and Sunderland’s willingness to pay the reported £1m compensation overcomes a major obstacle to his appointment.

Derek McInnes: two years left on Aberdeen contract.