Sunderland goalkeeper Vito Mannone has been ruled out for at least three months with an elbow injury and the Premier League club will target a replacement before the transfer window ends, manager David Moyes said today.
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“You would add to the squad and there may be people who are leaving, but I think, at Sunderland, when I had taken over they had already got rid of the likes of Danny Graham, Steven Fletcher and one or two others”.
Sunderland have endured a hard start to life under Moyes and were dealt another blow when goalkeeper Manone was ruled out for three months on Friday.
Defoe said: “No. You have to do it right, he can’t treat me any different just because he was my manager last season!”.
Moyes tells us about the extent of Mannone set back.
Pickford had made several saves to keep his side in the game and there appeared to be little danger when Rodriguez let fly, only for the shot to somehow slip through the young goalkeeper’s hands.
“I think they have done really well, how they have developed their club and used their academy well”, said Moyes.
“But undoubtedly, we are patching up just now and I do hope that by next Wednesday I’m able to say ‘Doesn’t this look a bit more rosy?’ It won’t be rosy until we get some injuries back as well, because I just couldn’t bring in enough to cover the damage that’s been done”. The first goal of the game came in the 36 minute of the match as Valencia started the play, giving the ball to Rooney who whipped in a lovely cross and Ibrahimovic was there to head the cross into the goal.
The 33-year-old Defoe has now found the net in his last six Premier League away games, leading to calls for his first worldwide action since 2013.
“Once I get those out, then I don’t need to deal with the big fires so I’ve got to make sure I get a grip and then continue to build”.
And he is still confident that he can perform at global level, adding: “Lets be realistic, if I am scoring goals in the Premier League then why not?”
Another La Liga recruit Javier Manquillo, who arrived from Atletico Madrid earlier this week, will start today even though Moyes admits he’d have preferred to ease him in gradually.
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“If you get England players you get talked about more”. That will come with playing games. He played all season at Marseille, so we’re not talking about somebody who has got no level of first-team football.
