FRENCH flop Lilian Laslandes fears he will be priced out of a move back to his homeland this summer, writes Paul Fraser.

And the towering striker is convinced he will be back on Wearside next Wednesday to start pre-season training with Mick McCarthy's men.

Laslandes spent a successful nine-month loan spell at Bastia in Le Championnat, where he was also handed the captaincy.

Bastia, along with Nantes and Nice, have indicated they hope to strike a deal with Sunderland for the player.

But it is understood that the Black Cats are holding out for a fee, so that they can recoup some of the £3.6m Peter Reid forked out for the player nearly two years ago.

Returning to the Stadium of Light is not something Laslandes is keen to do, but he said: "For the moment the club don't want to budge (on a fee)." The former France international, who only made five League starts in a Sunderland shirt, continued: "I think I will have to resume in England in July before being able to leave Sunderland.

"The interest of the club is to facilitate my departure since next year I will be free. I hope that an agreement can be reached for me to be liberated as early as this summer."

Sunderland defender Baki Mercimek, once dubbed 'the new Jaap Stam', is the latest man to have agreed a settlement figure and left the club.

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