How Sunderland attempted to re-sign a former Middlesbrough promotion winner.
Sunderland manager Roy Keane has showed interest in re-signing Julio Arca.
Julio Arca, a former Sunderland player, has stated that Roy Keane attempted to get him back to Wearside after he left for Middlesbrough.
The Argentina youth international, who now coaches South Shields, joined the club in 2000 and lasted six seasons there, making 177 appearances before being traded to Middlesbrough when the Black Cats were relegated.
However, a year later, Sunderland had been promoted back to the Premier League under Keane and were interested in bringing Arca back to the Stadium of Light, but the player chose to stay at Middlesbrough, who were also in the top tier at the time.
“Obviously, Roy Keane arrived at the club (Sunderland) after a year at Middlesbrough.” Sunderland tried to sign me again a year later, but Middlesbrough refused to let me go at the time,” Arca explained.
When asked if he would have returned to Sunderland, Arca said, “It would have been a difficult decision.” I was playing for Middlesbrough, but it was nice to hear that a previous team wants you back. Particularly him (Roy Keane).
“It meant you’d done something worthwhile there, you know?” But leaving Middlesbrough was difficult for me. They gave me a fantastic opportunity. “I was having fun.”
Arca continued, “I’m sure some fans were upset about me being there or going there, but I think people understood.” I was only 25 or 26 years old, so I wanted to play as high as possible.
“The vast majority of people treated me correctly. To put it another way, I believe it would have been different if I had gone to Newcastle. You’ve witnessed the rivalry and understand how it feels. Sunderland-Newcastle has a far larger population than Sunderland-Middlesbrough.
“Over the last 10 to 15 years, we’ve seen a lot of players come and go between Middlesbrough and Sunderland, such as Grant Leadbitter.” Stewy (Stewart Downing) joined Sunderland on loan from Middlesbrough, but the rivalry isn’t as intense as it is with Newcastle.”
