SUNDERLAND have formally issued Papy Djilibodji with notice that they intend to terminate his contract.

Djilobodji, an £8m buy from Chelsea, has been informed that the Black Cats intend to sack him after breaching the terms of his deal.

In a club statement issued this morning, Sunderland indicated that “it has accepted Papy Djilobodji’s repudiatory breaches of contract and notice of the same has been provided to the player.”

It is suggested that 29-year-old had been given permission not to return to the club in pre-season in order for him to work on deals that would have seen him leave Sunderland.

However, it is then understood that he did not turn up as planned last month and when he did eventually return he failed a fitness test. Now Sunderland have confirmed they intend to terminate his contract.

The club statement read: "Sunderland AFC has given notice under its contract with Papy Djilobodji. Djilobodji, who was under contract to SAFC until June 2020, indicated in June 2018 that he wished to leave the club.

“In order to facilitate that desire, the club entered into a written agreement with the player allowing him to spend the month of July on voluntary unpaid leave.

"When that period came to an end, the player was expected either to leave for a new club – having reached a deal satisfactory to himself and SAFC - or to return in shape to play professional football. Instead, he returned to Sunderland over a month later, in the first week of September, ignoring written requests for his return.

"On his return, he was subjected to the same fitness test that his fellow professionals had undertaken on their return. He comprehensively failed that test.

"As a result, Sunderland AFC can confirm that it has accepted Papy Djilobodji’s repudiatory breaches of contract and notice of the same has been provided to the player."

There has been no word on what is happening with Didier Ndong, who has also spent the summer away from the club looking for a new challenge.

Sunderland’s record signing was unable to get deals over the line with a number of clubs, including Genoa and Benfica.

It is understood that the Wearside club are also looking into the possibility of suing the two players after a summer of frustration on that front when they both made it clear they wanted to leave.

Earlier this week Sunderland’s owner Stewart Donald said: “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.

“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 and neither player found a new 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 stats when he returned.

“When you’ve not turned up for 72 days and missed eight games of the season, and you come up in a condition which means you’ll probably miss the next 12 games, I think that sort of says you’re not really committed.”