Darron Gibson’s proposed switch to Sunderland has fallen through, Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed. The 23-year-old midfielder was on the brink of moving to the Stadium Of Light following the departure of John O’Shea and Wes Brown, but The Black Cats reneged on their contract offer for Gibson…

Gibson has scored 10 goals in nearly 60 appearances for United, following his November 2008 debut against Stoke City. Previously, the mid was named Jimmy Murphy Young Player Of The Year, back in 2006 whilst playing with the Reserves. However, the Republic Of Ireland International has been unable to get a foothold in midfield, and spent most of last season on the bench as a ‘fringe player’. Sunderland and Stoke expressed interest earlier this summer. 

However, despite Sunderland’s offer of £4 Million being accepted, they backtracked on their contract offer for the promising Irishman. “He was at the point of going to Sunderland and somewhere along the line – I don’t know exactly when – I think Sunderland moved the goalposts. From what I can gather, they gave him an offer and then changed it. That annoyed Darren and I think he’s quite right. I suppose their job is to try and save money.”
 
“If you can’t trust them on day one why wait until day two ?… Darron was undecided about what to do when we made the group up to come here (USA) – and we both felt he’d be better staying back. He seems to be in limbo at the moment.” With Paul Scholes and Owen Hargreaves retired and released respectively, Darren Fletcher ill and Gibson on the way out, United are becoming increasingly bare in midfield. However, The Reds are still in the market.