North-east club installed huge favourites to sign Leeds 2016-17 mainstay after odds shift

Tue 1 August 2017 19:00, UK

By Harry Sykes

Sunderland have have been installed evens favourites to sign Leeds United goalkeeper Rob Green, according to the latest bookmakers’ odds.

Bet Victor priced the north-east club at 1/1 on Tuesday night to land the former England keeper, 37, before the transfer window shuts at the start of September.

The likes of Middlesbrough, West Ham and Arsenal had far shorter odds last week but there has now been a shift, with Boro the runaway favourites to land Green.

Sunderland are in the market for a new keeper after selling Jordan Pickford to Everton for £30million and Vito Mannone to Reading.

Green overcame a shaky start at Leeds to establish himself as a firm fans favourite after joining on a free transfer from QPR last summer.

He appeared in every minute of the club’s 46 league games last season and was outstanding in the final months of the campaign as they fell narrowly short in their promotion bid.

Football Insider verdict

Leeds fans will be understandably livid if they sell Green to Sunderland this summer. Despite his age, the 37-year-old have proven himself as a reliable goalkeeper in the Championship, and his departure would not only weaken the Whites, but strengthen one of their rivals for promotion. While Green is unlikely to want to sit on the bench behind new signing Felix Weidwald during this upcoming season, he has the experience and the knowledge of the league to put up a serious fight for the number one shirt. Christiansen does not want the fans on his back before the campaign has even got underway, and so he should either keep hold of the 12-time-capped England international, or offload him to a club they are not set to be competing directly against next season.