SUNDERLAND will receive a €4m boost if Didier Ndong joins new employers in January – with Stewart Donald having confirmed the compensation fee for the midfielder will not go to former owner Ellis Short.

Ndong, who has held talks with Russian club FC Rostov, agreed a severance package with Sunderland officials last month that will see the Black Cats receive a €4m payment when the Gabon international’s registration is switched to another club.

However, when Donald completed his takeover in the summer, Ndong’s valuation at the time, which was £8m, was included in a list of payments that would be due to Short.

In the end, Ndong did not leave Wearside before the transfer window closed, and with Donald having made a number of subsequent payments to Short, the previous agreement is now invalid.

Ndong’s compensation fee will go straight into Sunderland’s bank account, potentially helping to plug the gap that still exists between income and expenditure.

“The agreement was that if Ndong was sold in the summer, then it would go to Ellis immediately, but that our future payments would reduce by the equivalent amount,” said Donald. “The future payment it related to has already now been paid, so the clause regarding Ndong is no longer acceptable.”

Since taking over at the start of the summer, Donald and Charlie Methven have made giant strides in addressing the financial imbalance they inherited.

Further cost-cutting is planned for the next 12 months, with Methven hoping the club can quickly get to a stage where their annual losses are less than £4m.

“We’ve got the cost base to about £28m,” said the Black Cats director. “Further efficiencies and cuts are needed, and it’s harder and harder. We hope to be at £22m next summer.

“We are still losing money. By next summer, the loss since we came in will be around £10m-15m for the season. Juan Sartori and Stewart Donald will be covering that.

“By next summer, running losses will be down to £3-4m a year but, at the same time, either through cup runs or selling players, that gap may be bridged.

“If Sunderland was a patient, it is off the critical list. But it’s still in hospital. To get out of casualty, we have to make more tough decisions in the next seven months before we’re properly back on our feet again.”