Sunderland Chief Reveals That Black Cats Paid Inter £10m for Ricky Alvarez Amid Financial Concerns

Sunderland fans have made their concerns known regarding the club's somewhat shaded financial state, and Black Cats chief executive Martin Bain - speaking in an interview with Chronicle Live - frankly addressed the main questions pledged by the supporters, including the reality surrounding the club's 'obligatory' payment to Inter Milan for Ricky Alvarez.

Receiving £45m in parachute funds following their relegation from the Premier League, the North East outfit also received £33m from Everton for young keeper Jordan Pickford, and understandably so the passionate fanatics of the club are curious to where the money has gone.

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Bain claimed: “I’m a football fan and I understand that supporters look at the money they know is coming in, and the money they see going out, and wonder what happened to the difference.

“I recognise that we have sold players for a large amount of money and our spend is not commensurate with that.

“The truth is that every penny of the £33m that we received for Jordan Pickford and Vito Mannone has gone into the running of the club.

“Fans have not seen that money paid out on new players this summer, and the reason is that the money was already accounted for, primarily because of significant payments due this summer for players signed in previous seasons.

“Added to this, the club was obliged to pay £10m for Ricky Alvarez due to a deal that was done in 2014. That was the situation that the club was in.”

Sunderland fans have also questioned whether letting the likes of Jeremain Lens and Fabio Borini depart on loan this year will be conducive financially, with the fear that the club will still be paying a large proportion of the players' wages.

But, to categorically put any lingering qualms to bed, Bain said: “The wages of all of the players who have gone on loan are being paid in full by the clubs they have joined.

“And the loan deals for Borini and Lens contain appearance clauses set at a level which will see them converted to permanent moves."