On Trial - Stoppila Sunzu

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

Think this is far from a done deal....trial was the easy part ...

But sources said that the prohibitive transfer fee of £4 million being demanded by the former African champions may prove to be the spanner in the deal.

Sunzu arrived on a morning flight yesterday and was immediately rushed to the Confederation of African Football 2013 AFCON headquarters at Emnotweni Sun Hotel in Nelspruit for the tournament accreditation which he missed as the rest of the team did in the morning when the defender was between Johannesburg and Nelspruit.

TP Mazembe are demanding a whopping £4 million for the transfer of their best player of the 2012 season which comes awkwardly too much for a player coming straight from Africa and also especially that Reading have bought the captain of Portuguese giant Sporting Lisbon for a much lesser fee.

As TP Mazembe are putting a prohibitive price tag on the 23-year-old’s head, Reading are at the same time signing much cheaper players like Daniel Carrico, a defender-cum-midfielder who was captain for Sporting Lisbon for £650,000.

[Millsy]

If its 4million I say screw him but Ive not seen him play.

We have Pearce, Maps and Morrison plus gorkss.

I'd MUCH rather we put the money towards Aspas.

[akranes]

If its 4million I say screw him but Ive not seen him play.

We have Pearce, Maps and Morrison plus gorkss.

I'd MUCH rather we put the money towards Aspas.

I'd much rather we put money towards this guy, he's younger, and a defender.

Aspas, too expensive, relatively unproven, extremely expensive and not young anymore.
Put Le Fondre in his place and he'd done the same over the last few years and also be 'worth' £8.3m

Also Sunzu has a good relationship with the players and staff, he wants the move.

[ManchesterRoyals]

Looks pretty good signing especially good in the air

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpG1qcBW-MQ

[SPARTA]

Jem KARACAN of Reading the most rated player in the club didn’t doubt neither. "I ​​knew SUNZU when he came to train with us in 2007, after the U20 world championships in Canada. I am sure he will help us a lot because we have the worst defense in the championship. In addition, this is a great guy who always has a big smile ...” he said.

http://www.tpmazembe.com/en/news/4011/s ... in-reading

[ZacNaloen]

Interesting, that's not what Jem said

Don't trust any quotes from that website

[JordCot]

It would be good to have this wrapped up before he plays in the AFCON in case it adds few more millions to his price tag

[NR_Royal]

Looks pretty good signing especially good in the air

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpG1qcBW-MQ

Looks awesome.

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

Reading hope to land Stoppila Sunzu before Arsenal get involved

19 Jan 2013 22:25
The £4m rated Zambian centre-back had a trial with the Royals as a teenager and Brian McDermott seems to have made up his mind

Relegation-battlers Reading hope to agree a £2.5million fee for Zambia centre-back Stoppila Sunzu and foil any late move by Arsenal.

Sunzu, 23, was given permission to be released from Zambia’s Africa Cup of Nations squad to train with the Royals in the past week and impressed in a game on Thursday.

But he has rejoined his country in South Africa for the opening game of the defence of their title against Ethiopia tomorrow.

Sunzu plays for TP Mazembe in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is known to Reading boss Brian McDermott from a trial with the club in his teenage years.

Sunzu said: “Everything went well. I’m happy because I passed the assessment and it’s now up to TP Mazembe and Reading to finalise the deal. When they do that, I will sign the contract right here.”

Two possible stumbling blocks to the deal could be TP Mazembe’s £4m valuation of Sunzu and Arsene Wenger’s interest in
the player

[Royal91]

Every passing day I don't see confirmation the more I feel this isn't going to happen.

[SPARTA]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/ ... 6A.twitter

Relegation-battlers Reading hope to agree a £2.5million fee for Zambia centre-back Stoppila Sunzu and foil any late move by Arsenal.

Sunzu, 23, was given permission to be released from Zambia’s Africa Cup of Nations squad to train with the Royals in the past week and impressed in a game on Thursday.
But he has rejoined his country in South Africa for the opening game of the defence of their title against Ethiopia tomorrow.
Sunzu plays for TP Mazembe in the Democratic ­Republic of Congo and is known to Reading boss Brian McDermott from a trial with the club in his teenage years.
Sunzu said: “Everything went well. I’m happy because I passed the assessment and it’s now up to TP Mazembe and Reading to finalise the deal. When they do that, I will sign the contract right here.”
Two possible stumbling blocks to the deal could be TP Mazembe’s £4m ­valuation of Sunzu and Arsene Wenger’s interest in the player.

luther mainga junior ‏@Lutherrightfoot
Tp Mazembe chairman Moise Katumbi is a tough negotiator its unlikely he will barge on sunzu valuation #readingfc

Hopefully we don't try and penny pinch and lose out. Their chairman sounds very similar to Huddersfield's and Palace's in being very stubborn.

[marcusopp]

Hopefully we don't try and penny pinch and lose out. Their chairman sounds very similar to Huddersfield's and Palace's in being very stubborn.[/quote]
Having said that, i'd prefer to keep Pearce if it is a matter of either/or.
Hopefully the club is looking to add to the depth of the squad and we have both. If so then Gorkss will probably make way as he'll be 5th choice. Shame though, he played a big part in our promotion campaign.

[DOYLERSAROYALER]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/reading-hope-to-land-stoppila-sunzu-1545326#.UPuC_N8vO6A.twitter

Relegation-battlers Reading hope to agree a £2.5million fee for Zambia centre-back Stoppila Sunzu and foil any late move by Arsenal.

Sunzu, 23, was given permission to be released from Zambia’s Africa Cup of Nations squad to train with the Royals in the past week and impressed in a game on Thursday.
But he has rejoined his country in South Africa for the opening game of the defence of their title against Ethiopia tomorrow.
Sunzu plays for TP Mazembe in the Democratic ­Republic of Congo and is known to Reading boss Brian McDermott from a trial with the club in his teenage years.
Sunzu said: “Everything went well. I’m happy because I passed the assessment and it’s now up to TP Mazembe and Reading to finalise the deal. When they do that, I will sign the contract right here.”
Two possible stumbling blocks to the deal could be TP Mazembe’s £4m ­valuation of Sunzu and Arsene Wenger’s interest in the player.

luther mainga junior ‏@Lutherrightfoot
Tp Mazembe chairman Moise Katumbi is a tough negotiator its unlikely he will barge on sunzu valuation #readingfc

Hopefully we don't try and penny pinch and lose out. Their chairman sounds very similar to Huddersfield's and Palace's in being very stubborn.

I'm sure we are no different when it comes to us selling players...

[_royal]

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news ... in-Reading

[Simon's Church]

The transfer was dead the moment this got moved onto the team board.

[ManchesterRoyals]

Maybe Another Royal oxf*rd up

Arsenal hope to hijack deal for coveted African defender

Gunners keen to beat Reading to defender deal.

Arsenal are hoping to beat Reading to the signing of Zambian centre-half Stoppila Sunzu, reports the Daily Mirror.

Sunzu, 23, currently plays for TP Mazembe in the Democratic Republic of Congo but has been training with the Royals over the past week and impressed in a training ground friendly on Thursday.

The relegation-battlers are hoping to agree a £2.5m fee for the versatile defender but it is understood that TP are holding out for £4m – a fee that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is willing to pay.

The Frenchman is an admirer of Sunzu, who claimed last month that he was on the verge of signing for the North London outfit.

“I will be travelling to England to sign a deal with Arsenal after the friendly game against Tanzania,” Sunzu claimed in December.

“I don’t know the details of the deal yet because I have not discussed with both Arsenal and TP Mazembe. However, I spoke to Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger who assured me that I would not be going to London for trials but to discuss personal terms and possibly sign a contract.”

But Sunzu has since had a change of heart and now hopes a deal can be done with Reading.

Sunzu said: “Everything went well. I’m happy because I passed the assessment and it’s now up to TP Mazembe and Reading to finalise the deal. When they do that, I will sign the contract right here.”

[Pepe the Horseman]

Nothing in that remotely suggests that Arsenal are going to hijack the deal

[SPARTA]

Nothing in that remotely suggests that Arsenal are going to hijack the deal

Exactly. Arsenal initially wanted to trial the lad, so I can't see them suddenly deciding that he was good enough for Reading so we'll just offer the boy a deal.

Anyway, if we get him, we get him. Securing Pearce to a new deal is more important to me, plus if Sunzu is half as good as we're lead to believe, then I can't see him being here next season if we go down.

[Ian Royal]

This whole thread is full of media bullshit and twitterati guessing.

[_royal]

If we do get him I am really really looking forward to seeing him play.