Having recently been on trial with the club for a second time, reports are circulating that Sunderland have been impressed with Zambian defender Stoppila Sunzu and will open negotiations with him.

Sunzu Stoppila has passed trials at Sunderland and his club TP Mazembe has given him greenlight to negotiate with the EPL side

— Thomas Kwenaite (@TKwenaite) March 20, 2013

Zambia defender Stoppila Sunzu set to join #EPL side Sunderland. We've heard Spurs, Arsenal & Reading before. Good luck to the bullet. #safc

— Oluwashina Okeleji (@oluwashina) March 20, 2013

It remains to be seen whether or not he actually comes to the club but it seems as though TP Mazembe - his current club - are not going to stand in his way.

They are however very certain that he is under contract until 2014 so a fee will be involved, but unlikely to be anywhere near the reported £4m asking price for a player yet to ply his trade outside of Africa.

A tall and youthful defender (aged just 23), Sunzu was a key player in the Zambian African Cup Of Nations win in 2012. This lead to him being linked to numerous clubs including Spurs and Arsenal, although only Reading deemed him trial worthy before being put off by the fee.

Sunzu is currently injured and fighting to be fit to face Lesotho in a World Cup qualification match this weekend, but with our defence in need of some serious remodeling, he seems to fit the bill for everything we require. That said, so did Kader Mangane.