"I've not recovered" - Alexandre Mendy hints at Sunderland AFC transfer regret | OneFootball

The Black Cats pursued the Frenchman for much of the summer.

Sunderland summer transfer window target Alexandre Mendy has admitted that he hasn't fully recovered from his failed move to the Stadium of Light.

Of all the positions that the Black Cats wanted to address, centre forward was the most obvious position for them. Even up until the final day of the window they still hadn't sorted other options up front, leaving them in an eerily similar position to the one they were in the previous summer.

They did manage to sign Ahmed Abdullahi, a 20-year-old Nigerian forward from Belgian side Gent, for a reported fee of £2.5 million, as per Voetbal, but head coach Regis Le Bris has admitted that they will have to be patient with Abdullahi. This deal was on top of the one that saw Wilson Isidor join Sunderland on loan from Zenit St Petersburg.

Abdullahi, in particular, wasn't one of their main, long-standing targets; Mendy was. He was at one point reported to be in the northeast undergoing a medical ahead of a move to join Sunderland.

An agreement between Caen and the Championship looked to be getting close, but a change in the French side's ownership put their asking price for the 22-goal striker up to a point that Sunderland weren't willing to meet.

They ended up moving on from the 30-year-old, but he has since admitted that the effects of the failed move haven't left him yet.

Alexandre Mendy on the failed Sunderland deal

The Guinea-Bissau striker has admitted that he had his bags packed and was ready to make the switch. Mendy ended up staying in the north of France and has revealed that he is still partially living out of boxes.

He told France Bleu: "No, I’ve not recovered 100 percent, there are still a few after-effects.

"The after-effects of what was said, what happened in the past and also everything to do with my family: having packed my bags, having thought about going elsewhere, all those things.

"That will go away with time, but today I feel good on the pitch."

"The furniture has gone up but the boxes haven’t been unpacked yet," added Mendy. "It’s taking a long time, there are a lot of boxes to unpack.

"We haven’t got the time yet, we’re concentrating on the football and when there’s the next break we’ll unpack everything."

Sunderland have coped surprisingly well without a standout striker addition in the summer. They have won five of their first six games, beating the likes of Burnley, Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday along the way.

Teenage forward Eliezer Mayenda has stepped up and become the first choice centre-forward in Le Bris' system. He has registered two goals and two assists in the half-dozen matches that the Black Cats have played in the new Championship season.

They look set to further bolster their attacking options, almost a month on from the end of the transfer window, with free agent forward Aaron Connolly reportedly on the verge of joining Sunderland.

Sunderland will be disappointed that they missed out on Alexandre Mendy

As much as those at the Stadium of Light will be happy with the development of Mayenda, and the seemingly inevitable addition of Connolly and his stellar second tier record, they are still without that additional element that the Ligeu 2 striker would have brought.

His penalty box instincts and physicality aren't particularly mirrored by many, if any, of Sunderland's other options up top.

Having that diverse option would have made Le Bris' side even more well-rounded than they already are, which would have been a scary prospect for the other Championship teams.