Hull looking to a Steve Bruce stalwart to aid survival fight

Paolo Di Canio’s overhaul of the Sunderland squad looks set to involve a culling of their former captain, with Lee Cattermole told he no longer features in the Italian’s plans.

No less than nine players have made their way to Wearside this summer and this has prompted Ladbrokes to attribute them a price of 4/1 to be relegated from the Premier League.

However, this influx of arrivals has left Di Canio needing to trim his squad and Cattermole looks to be the third high profile player departure this season, following Simon Mignolet and Danny Graham out of the exit door.

The dogged midfielder looks set to follow Graham down the east coast to become a teammate of his at a third different club by signing for Hull.

Tigers boss Steve Bruce is arguably Cattermole’s biggest (and, questionably, only) fan in football, having signed him for Wigan as well as the Black Cats, paying in excess of £8m for him in total.

This protracted deal will take his spending on the player into double digits, with a fee of £2m reportedly enough to convince Sunderland to sell.

The player has been omitted from the club’s Far Eastern tour and new signing Cabral has been allocated his old squad number. So despite Hull’s standing as a front-runner for relegation, the player would be foolish to resist the Yorkshiremen’s overtures with no other apparent offer on the table as it stands.

Fulham and Cardiff are both said to harbour an interest in the player, but are actively pursuing other targets in the same position, particularly the Bluebirds who hope to wrap up a deal for Etienne Capoue in the coming days.

Bruce’s refusal to lose faith in a player with such a shocking disciplinary record, coupled with Hull prioritising his signing, though, means the best career move he could possibly make at this moment would be to the Tigers.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date