Sunderland are still in the hunt to secure the services of Lamine Kone, according to reports from the Daily Mail.

Following the signing of Jan Kirchhoff from Bayern Munich, it was suggested by manager Sam Allardyce that Sunderland would not be pursuing the signature of Lorient defender Kone.

Lorient were left incensed by Sunderland pulling the plug on the deal for Kone and had threatened legal action against the Black Cats for forcing the defender to miss a number of games due to the protracted transfer.

Interestingly, it has since been claimed by the Daily Mail that Sunderland are still keen on signing Kone and a deal coming to fruition for the 27-year-old French-born Ivory Coast international remains a possibility.