Sunderland AFC are tonight expected to announce the signing of striker Darren Byfield from Rotherham United – but our own Michael Proctor looks like going to Millmoor in exchange.
Byfield, 27, signed for the Millers in March 2002 for £50,000 after spending just under two years with Walsall. In his 23 months at Rotherham, Byfield has scored 23 goals from 74 appearances – an average of one goal roughly every three games.
The Brummie began his career with West Midlands club Aston Villa as a 17 year old in 1994 but initially saw precious little action there. From 1998 onwards he saw loan spells at Preston, Northampton, Cambridge and Blackpool before Villa let him sign for Walsall on a free in the summer of 2000.
His last game for Rotherham was in their 2-1 defeat at West Ham and the Millers recently turned down a bid from Derby County for Byfield, saying the offer did not match their valuation of the player. The Millers said that furthermore, their squad was so stretched that no player would be allowed to leave until further recruitment had taken place.
Byfield’s contract is due to expire this summer and could have left them on a free if he had failed to agree a new contract at Millmoor.
Proctor signed for Sunderland when he too was 17 and during his time with us has seen loan spells at Hvidovre, Halifax, York and Bradford. He spent the 2001-02 campaign on loan at York City where he finished as leading scorer with 14 goals for the season.
So far this season though he’s played in only 17 out of a possible 28 matches, with Kevin Kyle, Marcus Stewart and Tommy Smith being Mick McCarthy’s preferred forwards in the starting line-up.
He has, however, done a job for the reserves and has scored 13 times so far for the stiffs this season but only once for the first team – within seconds of coming on as a late substitute during Sunderland’s hard-fought game against first division strugglers Wimbledon in December.
Many Sunderland supporters have bemoaned that Proctor has been consistently left on the bench recently despite his prolific form for the reserves, whilst Marcus Stewart and Kevin Kyle have struggled to find the back of the net.
Proctor was listed on the team sheet for last night’s reserves match against Leeds United, but was withdrawn at the last minute and replaced by Chris Kingsberry, with Mick McCarthy apparently taking responsibility for the last-minute decision saying he didn’t want to risk Proctor being injured. Sunderland lost the match 2-0.
