Sunderland close on €6m move for Cana

Sunderland are leading the race to sign Marseille midfielder Lorik Cana for a fee of around €6m according to L'Equipe.

Everton and Hamburg have been strongly linked to the Albanian midfielder, who wears the captain's armband at the Stade Vélodrome, alhough Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur have all been mentioned as well.

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has reportedly held talks with the midfield general, after being rubuffed in his attempts to sign England U-21 international Lee Cattermole from his former side Wigan.

Bruce told the Sunderland Echo: ''He is captain of Marseille and captain of his country - he's right up our street.

''I hate talking about other club's players until things are all signed and delivered - you just have to look at what happened with the Peter Crouch deal.

''So we'll just sit down with the lad and see how things progress.''

L'OM have splashed out on transfers this summer, with new boss Didier Deschamps bringing in midfield duo Stephane Mbia and Lucho Gonzalez to the club as he prepares for life in the UEFA Champions League next season.

Cana's future has been unclear for some time and he missed Marseille's friendly against Ajaccio last Friday in order to minimise the risk of an injury before any potential transfer.

Meanwhile, the club have claimed that they are interested in signing Fernando Morientes. President Jean-Claude Dassier told the French radio station RMC: ''For once this rumour is based on truth. OM is very interested in him and more precisely Didier Deschamps.

''The transfer can be concluded in the next hours. I hope so. On Didier Deschamps' requests, I'm folding myself into 4, 8 even 12 to try to satisfy him. He's on a free transfer with Valencia. I can't tell you more but I think we should be able to make it.''