Adil Aouchiche of Sunderland is playing in the Sky Bet Championship match between Sunderland and Queens Park Rangers at the Stadium Of Light in Sunderland, on March 16, 2024. (Photo by MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Reporter claims Regis Le Bris to blame as Sunderland move for £4m ace collapsed.
Sunderland’s reputation as arguably the EFL’s greatest developers of young talent exits for a reason.
Amad Diallo, probably Manchester United’s most impressive performer these days, owes much to that outstanding season he spent on loan at the Stadium of Light in 2024/25.
Chris Rigg is reportedly a target for Borussia Dortmund as well as Man United. A testament to how Sunderland have handled the stunning emergence of their homegrown 17-year-old hero.
Jobe Bellingham may join Jude in the England reckoning sooner rather than later, one EFL expert believes, while Dan Neil, Dennis Cirkin and Trai Hume have all come on leaps and bounds.
So you can see why Liverpool identified Sunderland as the ideal destination for Cesar Huerta, had the Mexico international made that switch to Anfield towards the end of the summer transfer window.
Cesar Huerta of Mexico leaves the field after the CONMEBOL Copa America 2024 Group D match between Mexico and Ecuador at State Farm Stadium on June…
Photo by Omar Vega/Getty Images
Regis Le Bris blocked Cesar Huerta’s Sunderland move
Reporter Rodrigo Celorio claimed at the time that Liverpool were ‘very, very close’ to signing Huerta from Pumas UNAM in his native Mexico.
The plan was, he says, to send Huerta to Sunderland for the 2024/25 season. Thus, ensuring that the winger would have access to the sort of regular first-team football he needs to
The irony, of course, is that Sunderland could do with Huerta now.
A right-footed left-winger, the diminutive 24-year-old would have come in very handy at a time in which Sunderland have lost both Romain Mundle and Tommy Watson to injury. Regis Le Bris confirmed that Watson faces two months out this week, speaking ahead of Saturday’s trip to Swansea City.
And Cesar Luis Merlo, backing up those previous claims from Celorio, insists that Huerta has Le Bris to blame for that aborted switch across the Atlantic.
“There was an offer from Liverpool, who were willing to buy him and loan him to Sunderland,” Merlo explains on his YouTube channel. “But, in the end, it didn’t happen, because the Sunderland coach did not want to have Huerta.”
Merlo feels that Huerta would have been happy to accept a short spell at Sunderland if that meant he would become a Liverpool player later down the line.
Now, exactly why Regis Le Bris blocked Huerta’s arrival is not quite clear.
Perhaps he felt that Sunderland, when all were fit and available, had enough options on the left. Perhaps he wanted to throw his weight behind Mundle, feeling – rightly so – that the former Tottenham Hotspur youngster had a lot more to offer after a difficult first few months on Wearside.
Pumas UNAM plan to sell Liverpool target in January.
Huerta’s contract, meanwhile, expires in the summer of 2025.
As such, the plan is to sell in January. UNAM want to ensure that they can still make a good profit on a player who joined from Guadalajara back in 2022, even if Huerta’s price-tag is now a little lower now than it was back in the summer.
