Spaniard in but no to youngster...

As reported here yesterday Niall Quinn has offered trialist Arnau Riera a contract but will not pursue his interest in Anthony Stokes.

Quinn spoke to the club website today and confirmed the deal for the Barcelona player,

'Riera is captain of Barcelona's B team and has impressed us greatly. He's a player I think Sunderland fans will love. His workrate is phenomenal, he's got lovely touches and he brings something different to the party.

'We hope to sign him on a three-year contract on Wednesday. He's gone home to get himself organised and he'll be back.
We can't see any last-minute problems.'

However the manager added that the midfielder will not sign in time to play against Birmingham, but will instead be ready to stake a claim for Saturday's home match against Plymouth,

'He has a medical to pass but by the way he has expended his energy in the last week or two here, he'll be fine on that. He should come into contention for the Plymouth game.'

Meanwhile, Quinn confirmed that he is no longer looking to sign Arsenal youngster Anthony Stokes on loan. Unable to guarantee the forward first team or even reserve team games, he has ended his interest in Stokes,

'Anthony is a young player who needs games now and we can't promise him that. I think Arsenal will loan him to a club who will guarantee him a game, week in, week out.

'I've a lot of good forwards here and he isn't, in my opinion anyway, ready to dislodge the ones that I will have in the team.

'We don't have a reserve team in a league here so I can't give games unless we arrange friendlies, so all in all it was best if he returned but he's a good player.'

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