Sunderland looking for two strikers - one loan and one permanent

Tony Mowbray has suggested Sunderland plan to repeat the Ross Stewart trick with new striker arrival.

Tony Mowbray has hinted Sunderland are looking for both a loan striker signing and a permanent one this month.

Sunderland are down to just one senior centre-forward at the club in Ross Stewart following Everton’s decision to end Ellis Simms’ loan early.

That has seen the recruitment team scour the world for reinforcements, but they are drawing from their past experience that saw Stewart himself shine.

Stewart was brought in as an untested player from Ross County as a January signing, but he initially played understudy to Charlie Wyke while he acclimatised to the club.

Then, when Wyke left the following summer, Stewart was perfectly positioned to step up into the team and he has been a revelation ever since. It’s a trick Sunderland are looking to repeat this month.

"I think both [permanent and loans] are appropriate,” Mowbray said. “We do need to try and sign our own players but to help our situation a loan isn't a bad option either.

"I do think the priority is to sign footballers that we think are the right quality to help the club going forward, because loans obviously go back to their parent clubs.

"This is why the policy of signing young players fits in really. If you bring a loan player and he's the man for now alongside Ross, potentially the younger one gets game time off the bench and you filter him in.

"If the loan goes back at the end of the season then you've got a young player who's had six months integrated into the club and for the next season is ready to hit the ground running." 

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