Cats close on Diouf swoop

Sunderland are reported to be closing in on a £2.5million swoop for Bolton striker El-Hadji Diouf, who has expressed a desire to leave.

Wanderers boss Gary Megson revealed on Friday evening that the club were considering a bid from a rival club but refused to name the interested party.

Now reports claim that Sunderland are the club who are keen on Diouf and the player could sign within the next 24 hours as soon as he has passed a medical and agreed personal terms.

Diouf only has one year to run on his current deal and spoke out towards the end of last season saying that he wanted a fresh challenge. Wanderers had not received one offer until Sunderland came in and now the player has to decide whether he wants to swap the Reebok for the Stadium of Light.

It also remains to be seen if Bolton will accept Sunderland's bid. Megson had been quoted as saying in the past that he would not let Diouf go on the cheap and would hold out for £5million.

Diouf is also on big wages at the Reebok Stadium and the player is unlikely to take a pay cut to join Sunderland so a deal is far from done.