Following Sunderland's relegation from the Championship, both Papy Djilobodji and Didier Ndong have failed to return to the club, prompting Sunderland to consider legal action against the duo.
Sunderland suffered back-to-back relegations from the Premier League and the Championship which left the club with some expensive players compared to League One's usual standards. Djilobodji and Ndong failed to secure moves away from the club, and have seemingly opted to take matters into their own hands.
Club chairman Steward Donald discussed the possibility of legal action in an interview with talkSPORT, saying:
“We gave Papy Djilobodji permission to not be with us in July, when he said he wouldn’t turn up if we didn’t pay him, so he could find another club.
😮 Sunderland’s Papy Djilobodji showed up to training today after being absent for 72 days
— ODDSbible (@ODDSbible) September 5, 2018
🤯 He’s reportedly on £100,000 a week and the club are refusing to pay pic.twitter.com/V0Yej7mKht
"We gave him some guidelines to keep himself fit to make sure he was up with the pre-season standards, but he didn’t turn up in August whilst looking for a move, and with the transfer window shutting neither player managed to find a club.
“There’s an obligation on players to turn up in a condition in which you can play football, and the reality of it is that I would probably have beaten his [Djilobodji’s] stats when he returned.
"He was unfortunately way off what everyone else is and then didn’t turn up for the next training session.
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Source: 90min
