Sebastian Coates has joined Sporting Lisbon on loan until the end of the season, the club have confirmed.

The Sunderland defender was a regular in the team at the beginning of the season, following a £4 million summer move from Liverpool, but has not been as popular with Sam Allardyce as he was with former boss Dick Advocaat.

Wes Brown has moved ahead of the Uruguayan in the centre-back pecking order, and with both Jan Kirchhoff and Lamine Kone coming in, whilst Younes Kaboul gets ready to return from injury, he has chosen a loan move in order to ensure playing time.

Coates passed a medical this morning in Portugal before agreeing personal terms with Sporting. If they are impressed with his impact in the next few months too, then the Sunderland Echo understands that they can sign the player on a permanent deal for £3 million this summer.

Permanent stay short-lived

Last season, Sunderland signed Coates on loan from Liverpool in a bid to help them avoid the drop. The Uruguayan international made a real impact too, helping improve a shaky defence as the Black Cats survived by the skin of their teeth.

Clearly impressed by his performances, then-manager Advocaat opted to make the player's contract a permanent one, signing Coates for £4 million from Liverpool.

Coates only joined the Black Cats this summer. | Photo: Sunderland AFC
Coates only joined the Black Cats this summer. | Photo: Sunderland AFC

The defender went straight into the starting XI, playing all 270 minutes of Sunderland's first three Premier League games this season, but he was not as solid as in the 2014-15 campaign as the team conceded eight goals in total in defeats to Leicester City and Norwich City, and a draw with Swansea City.

Since, he has been competing for a spot in the team with Kaboul and captain John O'Shea, and one would argue that the only reason he has been involved quite regularly under Allardyce is because of an injury to the former.

However, with the arrivals of Kirchhoff and Kone, plus the sudden improvements shown by Brown, Coates' opportunities are now to be limited further, and so he has opted for a switch elsewhere.

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Ameé Ruszkai
Head of the Sunderland, Swansea City and women football sections at VAVEL UK. Email: [email protected]