Sunderland have had a rather slow start to their transfer business but they have scalped defender Brendan Galloway and Tyias Browning from Everton to kick off their spending spree. The Black Cats have hired former Leeds United manager Simon Grayson in a hope to make a return to the Premier League next season.
Grayson will have to dig deep into the loan market due to Sunderland’s restructured budget for the upcoming season. The Black Cats are financially a bit unstable as of now and have to make the most of the available resources.
According to reports, they had a bid rejected for Bournemouth winger Max Gradel. Grayson wants to take the player on loan initially with an option to buy him back for a fee of £2.5m.
But the Cherries want to offload the 29-year-old permanently who is not in the plans of manager Eddie Howe. Grayson worked earlier with the Ivorian international during his stint with Leeds back in 2010 and has expressed an interest to rope in the winger.
Gradel is desperate for a move after the frustrating last campaign where he failed to notch up a single appearance in the Premier League despite inking a new contract.
Gradel flourished at Leeds having scored 25 goals for the Whites and the Sunderland gaffer thinks he can grind out the best from the player whom he knows very well. Sunderland’s search for a prolific front man will conclude if they manage to get the player from the Cherries.
After the departure of Jermain Defoe who joined Bournemouth on a free transfer currently, there is a shortage of forwards at the Stadium Of Light. Grayson who has been handed the managerial reins recently, has been working on every aspect of the team on a very tight budget.
The Black Cats are likely to spend a large portion of the budget to fill the void of Fabio Borini and Victor Anichebe. Except for Defoe, no other player had shown the appetite to score last season, so Grayson has to focus on this area.
Gradel does have a very good scoring record but he failed to implicate his success for the Cherries. The Ivory Coast international netted 31 goals for Saint-Etienne during his four-year stay in France.
Grayson knows if Sunderland are to perform in the Championship, he needs to rope in some quality players and Gradel could be one of them.
