Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray says the Black Cats’ best chance of bringing in an established striker is by taking one on loan
Tony Mowbray admits the ‘skewed’ transfer market is forcing Sunderland to look at loan deals rather than their preferred option of permanent transfers as they search for a striker. The Black Cats are working to bring in another frontman to add some more firepower to a squad that is currently reliant on summer arrival Luis Hemir as the club’s sole senior striker while Ross Stewart and Eliezer Mayenda are sidelined through injury.
But transfer fees – particularly for strikers – have soared, making it very difficult to get value for money in the domestic market. To underline the point, Ellis Simms – who was on loan at Sunderland last season – moved from Everton to Coventry City last month for a fee that could rise to £8m, putting him out of the Black Cats’ price range.
That has forced Sunderland to look further afield, hence their moves to bring in Hemir from Portugal and Spaniard Mayenda, who came from French club Sochaux. And while they will continue to look abroad for permanent transfers, if they do bring in a striker from closer to home it is more likely to be on a loan deal.
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“I think the club would ideally prefer to bring their own players in and maybe you’ve seen the French market is one they know and have looked at,” said Mowbray. “It is very difficult to find an English striker who you are going to get [without a huge fee].
“I don’t know the numbers involved but we all saw that it was mooted that with add-ons, Ellis Simms could cost [Coventry] £8m. We all loved Ellis to bits here, he worked his socks off for us and scored seven really good, important goals, but I think that shows the challenges.
“Would we pay that money for him? I think it’s a very difficult conundrum in terms of where you go to find value for money.
“Maybe the market is abroad, and maybe it is young players who you think have the potential to do it. Is the [domestic] market skewing a bit?
“And yet we’re not out there spending, never mind tens or twenties or thirties [of millions], we’re not spending fives.”
Ideally, Sunderland are keen to bring in young players on a permanent basis and develop them, before potentially selling them on at a profit further down the line. Mowbray said: “I understand the bigger picture.
“The bigger picture is the club picture of ideally signing your own players, not loaning them in and polishing them up for some other club to make a profit on them. If you sign your own players and get to work on them, hopefully they score 20-odd goals this season, 30 goals next season, and then you can sell them for £40m – or maybe in the modern market £80m – and reinvest back into the team and see where we can get to.”
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