Sunderland's final few years in the Premier League left very little for supporters to cheer about, but during that time a number of players did their bit to emerge as fan favourites. One of those being loanee Yann M'Vila - the French midfielder.

Red and white supporters still hold the 33-year-old in such high regard and there have been repeated links between the two parties since that loan spell. But, Sunderland's demise and fall into League One all but ended a lovers reunion.

M'Vila himself has spoken about being hurt and his desire to return to the Stadium of Light earlier this year. "The club wanted to keep me," he told Liberation. "I'd signed a pre-contract and I left it to those in charge to talk with Kazan.

"A few days later, I learned they were signing Didier Ndong from Lorient for EUR17m. I'm not going to lie, I took it very, very badly. I had come to London to sign with them the last day of the transfer window. I trusted what I'd been told."

However, Sunderland still have a magical hold over M'Vila, who excelled under Sam Allardyce in the 2015-16 great escape. "Magical," M'Vila replied when asked how his time at Sunderland was. "In England, football is the joie de vivre.

"Sunderland were playing for a spot between 15th and 20th, but in reality, you're playing Champions League football every day, with people who applaud you when you get thrashed by a big team.

"The pitches, the fans... One day, in the Tyne and Wear derby, we beat Newcastle 3-0, which is very important for the fans, such is the strength of the rivalry between the two clubs.

"On the third goal, the fans come on the pitch, hug us, but the game isn't over. So the fans returned to the stands and sat on their seats. You only see that over there. They wrote a song for me!"

The signing of M'Vila would not be a long-term fix, but for someone who has such experience in Europe, it seems worth a gamble. Even if the deal is until the end of the season, the Black Cats are in need of further experience to take that step to the next level.

There have been no official offers made for the former loanee at this stage, but even a deal until the end of the season could be the difference in promotion and remaining in the Championship - so long as it doesn't break any wage structures currently in place.