PAPY Djilbodji and Didier Ndong’s best chance of moving on from Sunderland swiftly could mean them having to reach an agreement over the remaining terms on their contracts if they want to follow Wahbi Khazri out of the Stadium of Light.

Khazri is on the verge of completing a £9m move to St Etienne after interrupting his holiday to finalise his return to France.

That deal should go through within the next few days after terms between the two clubs were agreed and the Tunisian is on the verge of signing a lucrative deal.

Djilobodji and Ndong are keen to follow him out, having failed to turn up for pre-season training and been told they can leave if the deal is right. The pair’s problem, though, is that there are no clubs at this stage seemingly happy to meet the valuations on their heads.

Trabzonspor are the latest to be keen and would like to have both on board for the new season – even if they can’t afford to pay more than the £10m it would cost to secure their services.

The Turkish club have tried to sign them on loan and that has been knocked back by Sunderland. New owner Stewart Donald wants to have them off the wage bill completely, having been informed that neither wants to stay.

In a fresh twist, with less than a month remaining until Sunderland kick-off in League One, it has emerged Donald is willing to discuss the possibility of the duo paying up their contracts.

That would then allow the pair to move on as free agents and further reduce the wage bill at Sunderland, where manager Jack Ross has already signed six new players and is looking to increase that number to at least ten.

Neither of Djilobodji nor Ndong reported for duty with Sunderland when they travelled to Portugal for a training camp and they will not figure when the new recruits figure against Darlington at Blackwell Meadows on Tuesday night.

Djilobodji had an indifferent loan at Dijon last season and they have turned away from making that deal permanent because of finance.

Ndong, on the other hand, didn’t make an impact during his half-season stint at Watford, and has since seen a proposed move to Torino break down which looked like netting Sunderland £6.6m for a player who signed for £13.8m a couple of years ago.

Donald has previously dismissed the idea of allowing players to leave on free transfers, so it will boil down to whether Djilobodji and Ndong can come to an agreement on the remaining terms – and Lamine Kone is in a similar position, but did return for pre-season.

Jack Rodwell was able to cancel his £42,000-a-week contract after discussions with the club and that sort of negotiations will be required again for the defender and midfielder to leave.

Khazri’s performances at the World Cup, playing well for Tunisia despite their group stage exit, helped his cause in attracting interest and it looks like St Etienne will pay £7m initially and a further £2m in add-ons.

That represents good business for Sunderland given how they paid £9m to Bordeaux for him in January 2016.

Sunderland will head into the friendly at Darlington looking to field a number of new recruits and it will be first time fans have had a glimpse of Ross at work with his ever-changing squad.