Sunderland deliver Ellis Simms warning to Everton

Ellis Simms does not appear to be high in the Everton pecking order - and Sunderland won't wait for them to realise it.

Tony Mowbray has warned Everton they will not just sit around and wait for them to make a decision on Ellis Simms.

Everton recalled Simms from his loan early but they have barely used the striker since. He has made just two fleeting appearances from the bench despite them continuing to lose matches in the Premier League.

That tells its own story about how much – or little – they intend to use him, and the Toffees are also adding to their own striker ranks in January further with Arnaut Danjuma on the brink of signing from Villarreal.

Because Simms has played for Sunderland and Everton already this season, he cannot play for any other club. That means Everton risk allowing his progress to stagnate for the rest of the season unless he returns to Sunderland.

Mowbray, though, says while Sunderland remain open to re-signing Simms, they are very much moving ahead with other targets

"What'll happen is that we'll sign another striker or two and they'll offer him back to us on the last day and we won't be able to pay what we were paying before! We can't wait for Ellis hoping that on the last day they say he can come back.

"We have to try and do our business now, that's the way it has to be. You always have to have more than one option in any recruitment business, because if you only have one option they can keep driving the price and you end up getting uncomfortable with the numbers that you start paying because he is the one you want.

"You have to be able to bounce him off against another guy, and if you say he's not coming unless we do that then he's not coming. It'll depend on whether we can get some more signings over the line because we have to push on with signings.

"We can't wait for Everton to decide whether Ellis Simms is coming back or not. If we sign some players and we don't need another centre-forward, he won't be coming back - that's the reality.

"It sounds like a threat but it's not meant to be. We just have to do our business and look after Sunderland AFC by bringing in another option or two as strikers. If the phone rings this afternoon and Everton say he can come back, the club has to make a decision whether to stop the negotiations that we are doing elsewhere and bring Ellis back.

"We're spinning plates, really. If the other options fall into place, it's not likely we will be able to pay X-thousand pounds a week for Ellis to come in and sit on our bench.

"That's football, we have to do what's right for us. As far as I know, Everton are trying to sign strikers and if they sign them then Ellis probably gets pushed down the line a little bit and the opportunity for him to come back becomes greater.

"But if we sign two strikers before then, there's every chance he won't be coming back."

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