Star Photographed On Plane Heading For Sunderland Move | OneFootball

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Sassuolo attacker Armand Lauriente has been snapped on the plane on his way to complete a move to Sunderland.

The Black Cats have been keen to land Lauriente, who was a key man in Sassuolo’s successful promotion campaign in Serie B last season.

Despite facing substantial competition, Sunderland have agreed a deal with Sassuolo and Lauriente, who said goodbye to his team-mates on Friday.

Now he is on his way to undergo his medical checks with Sunderland and has been snapped on the plane.

Sunderland will be looking to put Lauriente through his medical as soon as possible and he will then be able to put pen to paper to a contract with the Premier League new boys.

Due to turn 27 years old later this year, the attacker is a higher age profile than Sunderland have been signing this summer.

However, he is someone well known to Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris due to his spell on the books at French side Lorient.

Sassuolo took him to Italy from Lorient in 2022 and he stayed with the club following their relegation into Serie B.

Lauriente scored 18 goals in 33 outings in Serie B over the course of last season and now Le Bris will look for him to hit the ground running in the Premier League, which will be a much more demanding environment.

Sunderland are in friendly action later today when they face Sevilla in Portugal.

They are then due to lock horns with Sporting Lisbon, also in Portugal, before flying back to the UK to take on Hearts at Tynecastle.

Hull City are on the agenda towards the end of the month, before Sunderland host Real Betis on 2nd August.

Two more friendlies are then due, with Augsburg and Rayo Vallecano booked in and it remains to be seen which games Lauriente plays in.