Sunderland former target Ike Ugbo has spoken out of the interest in him across the summer.
Sunderland’s hunt for a striker has taken up the brunt of the Black Cats’ summer, with them still having a carbon-copy front-line, barring the arrival of Ian Poveda, who signed despite interest from Sheffield Wednesday.
Alexandre Mendy was targeted as a possible striker to lead the line for Sunderland this season, with the Caen striker releasing a damning statement over his future at the Ligue 2 club where he finished as the league’s top scorer in the 2023/24 season.
Ike Ugbo also emerged as a suitable candidate to take the Sunderland striker position vacancy that was clearly missing in the last campaign, however fellow Championship side Sheffield Wednesday managed to move ahead of the Black Cats and sign the Canadian international.
Following his arrival at Hillsborough, the former Sunderland target has been quizzed about interest in him this summer.
Ike Ugbo on ‘a lot of factors’ that saw him opt for a move to Sheffield Wednesday over Sunderland
After it was confirmed that he signed for Sheffield Wednesday over Sunderland, he was asked about the interest he generated this summer following a successful Championship spell in the 2023/24 season.
Speaking to Football Heaven on X, Ugbo said: “There’s a lot of factors that came into it [agreeing to join Sheffield Wednesday].
“Coming back to Sheffield, I was looking for a home, somewhere I can call home.
“And after how I finished the season, my mind was always made up.
“Of course there’s gonna be offers coming in but I think I had my mind made up already.”
Ugbo spent the latter stages of last season on loan at Sheffield Wednesday, which finished with the Owls confirming survival at the Stadium of Light in the last game of the season.
Sunderland must focus on more attainable striker targets
Sunderland now face a race against time in making sure they bring in attacking talent before the transfer window slams shut.
Ideally they would have had a new signing early in pre-season, which would give them the chance to adapt to Regis Le Bris’ tactics and style of play, however Sunderland are now on the eve of their first Championship game and still are without a sufficient striker at this level.
On the surface, targeting Ugbo was shrewd from Kristjaan Speakman as he was available for transfer from Troyes and had Championship experience, however his heart was always on a move to Sheffield Wednesday, making it a very difficult acquisition for the Black Cats.
With Sunderland certainly being up against the cosh in bringing a striker in before the deadline, they need to waste no further time in looking at alternative options and go all in for Mendy, as any further time spent looking at alternative options will only delay the arrival of a striker, which is already going to have a negative impact on their attacking output in the opening game of the season.