Lilian Laslandes

Laslandes arrived in June 2001, as Peter Reid 's replacement for the ageing Niall Quinn . Much media hype surrounded the powerful Frenchman as the club paid £3.6 million for his signature, [ 5 ] but he struggled to adapt to the pace of the English Premiership and Sunderland's style of direct football. Laslandes' relationship with Reid had also deteriorated. [ 6 ] After 12 appearances with no league goals and one in the League Cup against Sheffield Wednesday, [ 7 ] Laslandes went on loan in January 2002 to German club 1. FC Köln , where he played five matches without scoring, which earned him the derogatory nickname "Las Landesliga ". This was followed by a more successful loan to French first division club Bastia for the 2002–03 season, where he scored eight goals in 30 appearances. [ citation needed ] Laslandes returned briefly to Sunderland in the summer of 2003 for pre-season training with new manager Mick McCarthy . However, all parties agreed he had no future at Sunderland. Despite chairman Bob Murray's efforts to secure a transfer fee for the former French international, Sunderland's crippling debts, combined with Laslandes' high wages, put Murray in a weak bargaining position, with the result that Laslandes was released from his contract and joined French first division club OGC Nice at the start of the 2003–04 season. [ citation needed ] — Wikipedia