SOURCES: SUNDERLAND AGREE TO SELL ‘WONDERFUL FOOTBALLER’ TO RIVALS FOR BARGAIN FEE

Alex Pritchard will be sold by Sunderland to Championship rivals

Birmingham City, and Tony Mowbray will receive less than £500,000 in

exchange for his reunion with the former Black Cats star.

 

HITC Football is aware that Mowbray is going back to his former employers and

bringing a player from the North East to the Midlands, just two months after he was fired from the Stadium of Light.

Alex Pritchard was scheduled to become a free agent at the end of the current season, and it appears that Sunderland decided not to offer the seasoned playmaker new terms.

 

Additionally, Birmingham City jumped at the chance to get Mowbray and the technically skilled 30-year-old back together at St Andrews. The agreement to sign a deal worth less than £500,000 has now been communicated to HITC.

Alex Pritchard will leave Sunderland for Birmingham City

An end to a distracting and rather unnecessary saga will come as a relief to the Black Cats. Sunderland felt compelled to release a statement before Saturday’s 3-1 triumph over Stoke City, Pritchard removing himself from contention and making no secret of his desire for a fresh start elsewhere.

 

“On Friday morning, Alex Pritchard informed the Club that he was no longer available for selection,” the statement read. “He subsequently withdrew from today’s matchday squad

 

“The midfielder also expressed his desire to leave SAFC with immediate effect.”

 

Pritchard, it seems, will now get his wish. The former Tottenham Hotspur prospect, who cost Huddersfield Town an eye-watering £11 million during their short-lived stay in the Premier League a few years back, leaves Sunderland for a Birmingham City side who are slowly pulling away from the relegation zone since hiring Mowbray as the replacement for the embattled Wayne Rooney.

‘He’s a wonderful footballer’

Just before stepping down from the Sunderland bench in September, Mowbray told The Chronicle, “What a good footballer he is.”

 

He’s a fantastic football player, so I’m really shocked the phone hasn’t ring as much as it could have. We need to make every effort to extend his playing time.

 

HITC is aware that Turkey and the United States were also considering Pritchard. Como, a Serie B team currently managed by former Spain, Barcelona, and Arsenal player Cesc Fabregas, was also a contender.

 

Meanwhile, Sunderland’s young stars Anthony Patterson and Pierre Ekwah are well-liked in the Premier League.

 

Romaine Mundle, a former Spurs prospect now playing for Standard Liege, has also agreed to a £2 million agreement with the Black Cats. He has to get checked out on Wearside right away.