Sunderland Target Confirmed As New Arrival Expected Imminently

Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray has confirmed that he expects a new striker to arrive at the Stadium of Light imminently, as well as confirming interest in Fulham starlet Jay Stansfield.

The Black Cats recorded their first win of the season this afternoon when Jobe Bellingham struck twice to hand his side a 2-1 victory over Rotherham United. The Wearside club will be hoping their season can now kick on from here after recording back-to-back defeats in their opening two fixtures.

Mowbray had gone on record prior to the game saying that he had to try and figure out how to get the most out of his attacking line in the absence of Ross Stewart and new signing Luis Semedo is yet to nail down a starting berth.

Speaking after today’s victory, via Chronicle Live, the former Celtic boss confirmed that a new striker will arrive at the club as early as tomorrow ahead of next weekend’s trip to Coventry City;

“I said the other day (Thursday) ‘I think they’ll be in tomorrow’ (a new striker) but they obviously weren’t.

“But I’ll say to you today ‘I think they’ll be in tomorrow’. I think by the next time we meet (ahead of the Coventry game), we’ll have been working for a few days with a striker and hopefully he can help the team.

“We’ll have to decide whether we want to persevere with what has helped us win the football match today, or whether we look at a different type of threat that this young man will bring. Fingers crossed everything is moving forward and we are getting stronger with our options.”

Links emerged earlier on today to Fulham striker Jay Stansfield after boss Marco Silva confirmed the 20-year-old would be allowed to leave on loan to a Championship club following his successful stint at Exeter City last season, where he scored nine goals in 36 league appearances.

Mowbray stopped short of confirming that Stansfield is the incoming player, although did admit that the club have expressed an interest;

“The way we work at this football club, I think we have two, three, or maybe even four names that we are juggling.

“I shouldn’t talk about the boy (Stansfield) because nothing is done yet, but he is one of the players we have had conversations about, but there are two or three other players that we have had conversations about.

“We’re juggling them all at the moment and it will be interesting to see which of them falls.”

Writer’s View

If Sunderland harbour any ambitions of bettering last season’s play-off semi final defeat, they need goals. Bellingham’s brace earlier today eases the load somewhat, but he is not a player that can be relied upon to hit the net on a regular basis.

Although Mowbray continues to point to Ross Stewart’s return from injury next month, there is no guarantees that he will still be at the Stadium of Light. Rangers’ interest from north of the border continues and Sunderland will be well aware of his dwindling contract and the risk of losing him for free next summer.

Jay Stansfield is a talented youngster and he is more than capable of thriving in the Championship. Of course, there is interest from several other clubs and it will be interesting to see who arrives through the door over the course of the next week.