Sunderland are in talks with Russian giants Zenit St. Petersburg over signing Belgian international Nicolas Lombaerts.
Black Cats manager Dick Advocaat took the 30-year-old former Gent man to Russia during his time in charge of Zenit and remains a firm fan of his abilities.
Now, according to Belgian daily Het Laaste Nieuws, Sunderland have opened talks with Zenit and are pushing to take Lombaerts to England this summer.
Advocaat is keen to bolster Sunderland's defensive options and has settled on Lombaerts as a potential option.
Lombaerts was signed by Advocaat for Zenit in the summer of 2007.
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The defender has enjoyed substantial success in Russia, picking up four Russian Premier League titles, the most recent coming last season under Andre Villas-Boas.
Lombaerts has also won the Russian Cup, the UEFA Cup, the Russian Super Cup (twice) and the UEFA Super Cup at Zenit.
At international level the 30-year-old has been capped 35 times by Belgium.
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