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Rumoured to be in the works since early this morning, Sebastian Coates' move to Sunderland on loan for the coming season has now been completed. A strong showing on the pre-season tour had led to talk he could stick with the first team this season, but with Kolo Toure turning down a move to Turkey, a loan for the big Uruguayan seemed increasingly inevitable.
That it's Sunderland makes a lot of sense. Manager Gus Poyet is Coates' countryman, and under him the Black Cats proved a solid short term home for Fabio Borini last season. They're also desperately in need of help at centre half, and on Coates' pre-season form there's little reason to think he won't walk into Sunderland's first eleven.
Whether he still has a future at Liverpool is anybody's guess, but after arriving as one of South America's top defensive prospects in 2011 there were high hopes that he would have a long and successful career at Anfield. Struggles to adjust to the speed of the game in England and injury troubles, though, got in the way and seemed to end those hopes.
Now he'll have a season to get back on track for a Premier League side and, at worst, should return to Liverpool having bolstered his sale price as Fabio Borini did last season at Sunderland.
