EXCLUSIVE: Portsmouth closing in on Bailey Wright with deadline-beating deal likely

Sunderland are looking increasingly likely to let Bailey Wright leave, with Portsmouth confident of a deal.

Sunderland defender Bailey Wright is a very serious January target for League One club Portsmouth.

The Australian has fallen down the pecking order at Sunderland this season, and that has not escaped the attention of a number of suitors.

Lee Johnson is keen for a second reunion with Wright at Hibs, while fellow SPL side Aberdeen are also interested. Derby County have been credited with an interest by the Daily Record as well.

However, Sunderland Nation understands that it is actually Portsmouth who are now leading the race, and there is a good chance of a deal being agreed before the January transfer deadline.

Portsmouth appointed John Mousinho as their new head coach last week, and he knows the 30-year-old well from the time they spent together at Preston North End at the start of Wright’s career.

Sunderland, meanwhile, are not actively looking to move Wright out, but they also won’t stand in his way should he get the opportunity to go and play first-team football elsewhere.

While he is seen as valuable cover on Wearside, Wright is unlikely to force his way past Dan Ballard, Danny Batth and Luke O’Nien for a Sunderland starting spot, and Aji Alese is fast maturing into a reliable option as well.

That situation could change dramatically though should Sunderland suffer any fresh injury blows this week.

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"It's not in my mind to think about Bailey staying or going, and I'm not sure that publicly I want to talk about people's situations,” Mowbray recently said of Wright. “Those conversations between coaches and players are private.

"What I would say is that if everybody is fit and available in our squad, there is probably an overload of five or six central defenders.

"I'm very much about the individual and what's right for them. If you're talking about a footballer of, say, 32 or 33 years old and when everybody is fit he finds he is not on the bench, the human side of me says 'what do you want to do - sit here and train every day, or explore other avenues?' If they want to explore other avenues then I am sympathetic to that.

"But we have to put the football club first, and the football club needs people at certain times and they won't go anywhere."

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