Charlton Athletic’s Lyle Taylor has told The Sun, with comments being reported by the Sunderland Echo, that he was very close to signing for Sunderland last summer.
The 29-year-old striker has been a star striker for the Addicks this season, scoring a stunning 22 goals for the club this season and helping to lead them to tomorrow’s Sky Bet Bet One play-off final against Sunderland. He was even voted as the 20th Best Player in the EFL in our annual Top 50 Players of the EFL Countdown.
But Charlton were very close to losing Taylor last summer, coincidentally to the team they will be taking on in the biggest match of their recent history on Monday. In an interview ahead of the big match, Taylor said that he traveled up to Wearside to discuss the terms of a move. However, he decided to stay with Charlton because the Black Cats were very unclear on what the terms of his contract would be.
He said: “I went up to Sunderland and met the manager,”
“I saw the facilities and it’s a hell of a club and Jack Ross is a hell of a manager as has been demonstrated this season.”
“But there were things said and done by those above the manager. That ended up why I didn’t go there and that’s why I play for Charlton and not Sunderland.”
“At Charlton, the club were clear with everything. It was like, ‘This is what we’re going to do, this is what we want and this is what you want. Here’s the deal, if you like it, sign it. If you don’t, don’t sign it.’”
“But, at Sunderland, it was wishy washy. We asked them for something while negotiating the contract and they said, ‘We can’t really give you that because if you don’t do that, are you going to pay us money back?’”
“It was almost like, ‘Hang on, I know you’ve been involved in non-league football at Eastleigh before but this is not how professional football works.’”
