Buckley Admits His Thoughts Were With Sunderland.

Sunderland’s new signing Will Buckley has said that previous interest in him from Sunderland affected the way he played at Brighton.

Black Cats boss Gus Poyet got his man last week after Sunderland were first linked with the player in January.

Brighton boss Sami Hyypia hit out at Buckley after he made his move and now the player himself admits that his concentration on the field with Brighton for the next six months was not up to what it could have been.

He told the Echo: ‘It was really close in January [the move] and it went right to the last day. I tried not to think about moving on, because you can’t do that when you are playing week in and week out.’

He went on: ‘I tried to carry on as though I was going to be at Brighton for a long time, because I was under contract, but when clubs come in for you – especially from the Premier League – you do get a bit distracted, so it probably was at the back of my mind for the last part of last season.

‘It has been a tough six months. It nearly happened in January, but I’m just glad it has happened now.’