Tony Mowbray: 'Unlikely that Sunderland will splash millions on a centre-forward'

Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray has explained what kind of striker the club wants to sign this month.

Tony Mowbray has all but ruled out Sunderland ‘splashing millions’ on an established centre forward in January.

Sunderland unexpectedly lost Ellis Simms last month when Everton opted to recall him early from his loan spell, leaving them with Ross Stewart as the only senior striker at the club.

They have been linked with many names since, such as Jerry Yates, Sam Surridge and Jonson Clarke-Harris, but Mowbray has suggested they are looking for something different.

He says Sunderland are looking for a younger player to come in and ‘support’ Stewart rather than be in a rotation with him, and he isn’t sure how quickly it will happen.

"We'd like one in as soon as possible really, we need reinforcements as Ross is our only out-and-out striker," Mowbray said.

"Some clubs... when you've got a big striker who you look to for goals, some are happy to do that and not have someone really vying with them for starts.

"It's pretty unlikely that we'll go and splash millions and millions on a big name centre-forward. I think we need a young guy, like Ellis Simms, who can come in and compete and know that he's learning off Ross. Some days we will play two up front, some days he might come on from the bench.

"I think that's what we're looking for really, someone who can come in and support our centre-forward who at the moment, scores every time he goes on the pitch.

"We're looking for reinforcements - how quickly will that happen? I hope in the next few days but it might not, deals aren't always done as easily as you want them to be.

"I know the club are working really hard behind the scenes to make things happen, and we have options. We want to put other options in the squad to compete and keep pushing Ross."

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