Sunderland chief reveals that high-earners are 'very close' to departures

Stewart Donald has revealed the latest on Sunderland's want-away players

Several of Sunderland higher-earners have made it clear that they feel their futures lie away from the Stadium of Light.

But up until now, attempts to move them out of the Stadium of Light have proved in vein which in turn has put strain on the Black Cats' costs.

Donald, however, sees light at the end of the tunnel having revealed that moves are 'very close' and could be completed before the end of the month.

The first of those could be completed imminently, with Lamine Kone understood to be undergoing a medical at RC Strasbourg ahead of a loan move to the Ligue 1 side.

LIVE: Striker having Sunderland medical ahead of £1m moveKone could be followed by Papy Djilobodji, Dider Ndong and Bryan Oviedo - all of whom have been linked with switches already this summer.

Sunderland have until August 31 to move the trio out as, while the English transfer window is set to close on August 9, overseas clubs will still be able to complete purchases up until the end of the month.

And the Sunderland owner confirmed that he expects departures to be finalised before that deadline with several clubs showing interest and some deals 'very close'.

But transfers will only be sanctioned if the clubs can meet Sunderland's valuation, with Donald keen to ensure that the Black Cats are not left short changed.

MORE: George Evans reveals why he chose Derby over SunderlandSpeaking to BBC Radio 5Live, Donald said: "There are some players that don't want to be there, it is trying to get those players out on the right basis for the football club.

"To be fair, there is a desire for them all to leave from themselves and there are clubs that are interested in them.

"I think they had a view that they would just be able to leave because it is League One but some of those players have a value and to be fair to Sunderland, we need to try and realise that value.

"We are almost there with that, it has been a big job over the summer.

"Basically, there are three or four we need to deal with and I would be surprised if come the window, not the loan window, but the transfer window, I would be surprised if there was more than one of those left.

"I think we are very close on them now."