Sunderland in Jobe Bellingham twist amid £35m development – Exclusive
Jobe Bellingham is a wanted man ahead of the summer but Sunderland could fend off interest to keep him at the Stadium of Light.
Chelsea are lining up a move to sign Bellingham from Sunderland this summer, with Tottenham and Crystal Palace also credited with an interest in acquiring his services in the Premier League.
The 19-year-old has also been linked with a move to Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen, thus raising doubts about his long-term future at the Wearside-based club.
Sunderland in talks for £35million loan from MSD
However, Sunderland could avoid having to cash in on Bellingham, as well as Chris Rigg, by borrowing £35million from MSD Holdings, according to Dan Plumley.
It emerged earlier this month that the Championship club are in talks with the US financiers over a £35m loan, which would be made right away, with an interest rate of £5m per year.
| Team | Matches | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goal Difference | Points |
| 2. Sheffield United | 38 | 25 | 7 | 6 | 25 | 80 |
| 3. Burnley | 38 | 21 | 15 | 2 | 41 | 78 |
| 4. Sunderland | 38 | 19 | 12 | 7 | 18 | 69 |
MSD Holdings have a bad reputation as financiers after handing out two loans to West Brom in 2022 and 2023, but their involvement may not be entirely bad for the Black Cats, feels Plumley.
The football finance expert is of the view that the immediate cash injection could affect in their Premier League promotion push, although the interest rate remains a drawback.
“It’s an interesting one to revisit, isn’t it, because we talked a few years ago in and around the pandemic about a lot of clubs taking out these loans, and before that actually, and we know they carry huge interest rates”, Plumley exclusively told Mackem News.
“I think the rumours for this one are about £5m-a-year in interest payments if the deal goes through for £35m worth of money in, but you can use that for cash flow, it does give you immediate access to cash flow.
“I think what’s interesting again in the context of this one, a couple of other things to look at is one where the club is at the minute on the pitch and if they get promoted to the Premier League, that’s a £120m uplift in revenue overnight, so have to factor in this as well.
“That could obviously help with the equation in terms of taking on some of this additional borrowing, and also some of the players that they’ve got that are, let’s be honest, sellable assets and what they want to do with them.
“So the likes of Bellingham, Chris Rigg, if they want to sell them, they’re going to command a fee, but maybe using some of these borrowings or having these borrowings means you don’t have to sell them.
Kyril Louis-Dreyfus seeking more funds
“You can spin that positively and negatively in terms of what that money might be there for and what it could provide the club with, but certainly we know the backstory with MSD and these types of loans.
“It’s going to carry a huge interest rate and you’ve got to take that on board when you’re entering into this agreement because it’s going be a couple of million a year that you’ve got to service.”
It remains to be seen what impact the agreement with MSD will have on Sunderland, especially if they fail to secure promotion to the Premier League this season and miss out on the subsequent cash windfall.
The fact that Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is seeking funds for the Black Cats at this stage in the season also suggests that he is struggling to balance the books.