The inside story behind Lee Cattermole's move to VVV Venlo

Lee Cattermole made the first move to join VVV Venlo after leaving Sunderland – and didn’t haggle over his salary.

The former Black Cats skipper left the Stadium of Light in the summer after reaching an agreement on the remainder of his £35,000-a-week contract.

And VVV’s football manager Stan Valckx has revealed the negotiations to sign midfielder Cattermole were the ‘easiest’ he had ever been involved in – after the player’s agent rang him up asking if he could join the Eredivisie outfit.

The 30-year-old always wanted to play aboard before he retired and the Dutch top flight side’s manager has revealed how the talks came about.

Valckx told Voetbal International: "An unknown number called me this summer. It turned out to be Lee’s management, whether he could play football at VVV.

"Why? He was looking for a nice club in a nice competition, that’s the real story.

"We agreed that he would train for a week. We then gave a salary indication. No problem. The artificial grass? No problem.

"Everything was arranged in two or three hours - this was perhaps the easiest transfer I have ever made."

Cattermole made his debut for the Dutch side in a 2-1 win against Utrecht, receiving a customary yellow card just 11 minutes after his introduction as a substitute before going on to earn his team all three points with a last-ditch tackle as Utrecht pressed for an equaliser.