How Sunderland beat Crystal Palace to sign Malick Fofana on 'crazy' deadline day
Sunderland are delighted to have won the race for Malick Fofana despite a complicated deadline day, sources have told Football Insider.
The Belgium international's move to the Stadium of Light was undoubtedly the biggest story of deadline day, with multiple hijacks causing seemingly endlesss confusion.
Ultimately, though, it was Regis Le Bris side who landed the 21-year-old in a deal worth £30million despite the complications caused by interest from Crystal Palace.
As I revealed on the latest edition of Football Insider's Transfer Insider podcast, despite the drama on deadline day, Sunderland were always confident of beating their rivals to the deal.
After reaching an agreement with Lyon earlier in the day, the Black Cats made a strong proposal to the player and his representatives and got the deal over the line.
Crystal Palace boss Pierre Sage has since confessed his side did everything they could to secure the deal for his former player, but ultimately Fofana preferred Sunderland.
How did Sunderland pull off a deal for Malick Fofana?
Football Insider exclusively revealed on 31 August, the day before deadline day, that Sunderland and Crystal Palace were poised to race in their pursuit of Fofana.
While nobody could have predicted the drama we saw on the window's final day, both clubs were extremely keen to get a deal over the line for the Lyon star.
Despite reports that Crystal Palace had offered a higher fee to Lyon, his decision to join Sunderland may have hinged on payments to his representatives as well.
Speaking on the Transfer Insider podcast, I explained: "Yeah, was a transfer saga and a half in one day really. Sunderland agreed a fee with Lyon for them and thought they were getting him.
"Obviously Crystal Palace came in and hijacked it, and then Sunderland upped their offer, hoping that would be enough to persuade the club and the players to make the move to the Stadium of Light.
"Palace then came in with a new offer as well, and we had two jets waiting at the airport ready to either take Fofana to London or to the North East to Sunderland.
"He did a medical so both clubs could use those medical tests to use as a medical as well. So yeah, it was crazy.
"He obviously ended up going to Sunderland. They're delighted with that deal. Got him around 30 million pounds, which is a decent deal in that one.
"But there's other elements to the deal as well with talk that some family members were looking more money, so look, it was a dramatic move in the end and Sunderland finally won the race for him."
Which other clubs were interested in signing Fofana?
Despite the drama waiting until deadline day to kick off, Fofana had been heavily linked with a move to the Premier League throughout the summer transfer window.
Meanwhile, Football Insider reported in May that Everton had been keeping a close eye on Fofana's situation at Lyon after missing out on a deal back in 2025.
The Toffees had been in advanced talks to sign the 21-year-old last summer and were reportedly offering a package worth around £39million.
However, that deal never materialised and the Toffes did not follow up their interest this term, instead allowing him to join Sunderland for a reduced fee.