LAMINE KONE has rejected Sunderland’s offer of an improved contract at the Stadium of Light, with Black Cats boss David Moyes casting doubt over the extent of the ‘back injury’ that will keep the defender out of tomorrow’s Wear-Tees derby with Middlesbrough.

Less than 24 hours after Black Cats officials confirmed Younes Kaboul was leaving Wearside in a £3.5m move to Watford, Moyes revealed the mounting tensions that place a huge question mark over the future of the club’s other first-choice centre-half.

Kone was the subject of a £17m offer from Everton earlier this month, and the defender clearly has his heart set on a move to Merseyside.

While he denies being behind a statement that was issued to Sky Sports News last Friday expressing a desire to leave the Black Cats, the 27-year-old has told Moyes he will not be signing the new contract he was offered at the start of the week.

To make matters worse, he reported to Sunderland’s Academy of Light training ground yesterday claiming to have a back problem and insisting he was not in a fit enough state to be involved in tomorrow’s derby game with Boro.

Moyes will not be picking the Frenchman this weekend, but he continues to insist Kone will not be leaving before the end of the transfer window unless it is on Sunderland’s terms, and remains hopeful the current impasse can be resolved.

“We said we would wait until September 1, but we offered him a contract,” said the Sunderland boss. “We gave that offer to him personally. His choice was still to go, to leave. He said, ‘No’ to the offer.

“We’re disappointed, but he’s still under contract for four years so it’s not too big a deal to us. What he asked for was a new contract, and we offered him that.

“It’s not a great scenario, but the player is ours. I’ve been in situations similar to this before. The players will go when we tell them to go – not when they want to go.

“I was pleased with him last weekend, and he knew very little about his statement which went out last week, which was very surprising.

“But the situation is still the same. We’ve had an offer which we haven’t said yes or no to. And we have made him a contract offer.”

Tellingly, though, when he was asked to clarify whether Kone had a back injury or had simply said he had a back problem, Moyes added: “He says he’s got a bad back.”

The row is hardly the ideal backdrop to Sunderland’s opening home game of the season, and the potential effects of Kone’s absence are exacerbated by the decision to allow Kaboul to move to Watford.

Sunderland’s apparent eagerness to part company with Kaboul stands in marked contrast to their reluctance to do a deal over Kone, but Moyes claims the two situations are markedly different. Kaboul, who will turn 31 in January, expressed a strong desire to move his family back to London.

“The difference is that Kone is younger, much younger,” he said. “He’s got a four-year contract. With Kaboul, it was something he came to me about and said, ‘This is something I’d like to do for my family – I would like to go back’.

“We spoke about it a couple of times. I told him about my situation and the difficulties I was in, but he was quite keen. He’s older, and we had bought Papy (Djilobodji) as a straight replacement to play on the left.”

Djilobodji is set to make his Sunderland debut alongside John O’Shea in a radically remodelled back four tomorrow, with Paddy McNair expected to get the nod to partner Jack Rodwell at the base of midfield.

The reshuffle is hardly ideal at such an early stage of the season, and having replaced Sam Allardyce less than a month ago, Moyes already finds himself plunged into something of a crisis.

The mood amongst Sunderland fans is turning against owner Ellis Short, who appears reluctant to match the spending of the vast majority of the Black Cats’ Premier League rivals, but Moyes claims it is important to keep the current problems in perspective.

“We have some difficulties, but you get on with it, it happens,” he said. “It will take us right to the deadline day before I can say, ‘Right, this is what we’ve got – let’s gel it all together’.

“We’re working more hours than possible because I know we need to get a stronger team and squad. We didn’t need to lose players, we needed to add players – and we needed to add quality.

“But I am calm because I’ve had this before. I’ve had to sell players I didn’t want to before, but you know what, the club will always go on.”

Moyes at least had a signing to celebrate yesterday as free agent Steven Pienaar penned a one-year deal after a successful trial spell at the Academy of Light.

“He is someone who will give us that experience, and who will keep the ball well,” he explained. “He had a brilliant understanding with Leighton Baines (at Everton), and I am hoping he will have at times a brilliant understanding with Patrick van Aanholt.

“I think Pat has a lot of similarities to Leighton Baines. Steven helped Leighton become the biggest assist-maker in the Premier League, and probably the best attacking full-back at that time. I’m hoping Steven might allow Pat to do that.”