[citation needed] Laslandes then moved to Girondins de Bordeaux on a free transfer on 1 August 1997 scoring 47 goals in 119 appearances.
Foreign clubs were starting to take notice of the Frenchman and his consistent goalscoring ability, including some from England, Germany and Spain.
Much media hype surrounded the powerful Frenchman as the club paid £3.6m for his signature,[5] but he struggled to adapt to the pace of the English Premiership and Sunderland's style of direct football.
[citation needed] Laslandes returned briefly to Sunderland in the summer of 2003 for pre-season training with new manager Mick McCarthy.
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.