WAHBI KHAZRI is on the verge of leaving Sunderland after St Etienne struck a deal worth around £9m for the forward.

The Black Cats have been looking to move the 27-year-old on this summer and were reluctant to let him head out on loan for a second time.

Rennes have also been shuffling for position and had been able to agree terms of a contract that would have seen him return following last season’s temporary switch.

But, while there is still time for a matched bid, it is St Etienne that have moved closer to landing the Tunisian World Cup player by offering what Sunderland want.

It is understood the French club are prepared to pay £7m up front for the former Bordeaux man and then a further £2m in add-ons.

Sunderland paid £9m when Sam Allardyce turned to him to help the relegation fight in January 2016 – when successfully contributed to keeping them up.

Sunderland manager Jack Ross has not been planning to have Khazri around and has been working on ways of replacing him in the squad.

Regardless of who arrives, though, Ross could still have a very important forward in his ranks already, provided he can recover from injury properly.

Duncan Watmore is making good progress in his rehabilitation from a second cruciate knee ligament injury, which saw him miss the majority of last season after only making six appearances after his comeback from his first.

The 24-year-old has the right attitude to recover and is intent on making an impact next season, with Ross looking forward to working with the former England Under-21 international.

Ross said: “He hopefully will be late September, maybe October for a full return. He’s doing really well, he has been out on the pitch, not with us but out there.

“He’s a tremendously positive young man anyway, so he’d always give you the impression that he’s fantastic in any case. But the feedback from the medical staff is very positive, they’re very happy. He’s a huge player for me if he’s back.”

Sunderland are preparing to play their first friendly against Darlington tomorrow night when they will hand a number of new players first appearances.

Ross added: “We've got five friendlies, plus a bounce-game when we are overseas (Portugal). But because of the numbers in the squad, it has to work that way.

“At the moment we are working with a lighter squad so they will get plenty of game time in those fixtures.

“If I was dealing with a squad of 25 or 30 players, we'd need more games to get them all game time.

“The number of games is right for where we are now but of course we can adapt it – if there is a sudden influx of ten more players then we would need more games, but I don't envisage that being the case.”