Sunderland: Timothee Pembele set for deadline day departure | OneFootball

The full-back is looking likely to leave the Stadium of Light before the deadline.

Timothee Pembele is set to leave Sunderland to join French side Le Havre.

Journalists Josue Casse and Santi Aouna have reported that the right-back is nearing a move to the French top division side.

Sunderland head coach Regis Le Bris previously stated that he wanted the 21-year-old to go out on loan. There was also a chance that fellow youthful defender Zak Johnson could depart before the end of the window too, but nothing much has come of that.

His French counterpart, however, is expected to leave Sunderland before tonight's deadline.

Timothee Pembele to complete Le Havre loan move

The former Paris Saint Germain academy player is set to return to his home nation for the remainder of the 2024/25 campaign, with a temporary switch to Le Havre on the cards.

He will join the Ligue 1 side on loan, as per Casse and Aouna, with a medical reportedly being scheduled to take place in the early hours of this morning.

Since joining the Black Cats on last summer's deadline day, Pembele has struggled for minutes. He only played eight times in the league last season.

Le Bris' desire to see him go somewhere else for the rest of the current campaign is because he is not part of his plans, despite an injury to Niall Huggins which will keep him out until early next year, leaving Sunderland a bit thin in Pembele's position.

While the likes of the 21-year-old are being moved on, the Black Cats are also looking to recruit on the final day of the window too.

Two midfielders - Milan Aleksic and Salis Abdul Samed - are set to join the club, with the former doing so permanently and the latter set to arrive on loan, as per the Northern Echo.

They are also looking to acquire a striker before the window shuts at 11pm. Lyon centre-forward Gift Orban has been identified as their number one option, according to Sunderland Nation, but they will face competition from Burnley and Southampton for his signature.

Loan move is the best thing for Pembele

Providing Trai Hume didn't suffer any sort of long-term injury, there is almost no chance that the right-back would have seen many, if any, first-team minutes this season. Le Bris even said, in the case that Hume did go down, that they could switch to a back-three formation to accommodate, rather than using Pembele.

It was clear that his development was going to be stunted unless a move away was sorted. Luckily for him, things are moving in the right direction on that front.