Tony Mowbray has claimed a new arrival at Sunderland is imminent, though refused to confirm whether it is Jay Stansfield.
Speaking after the Black Cats’ win over Rotherham United, the 59-year-old admitted that Stansfield was one of a few strikers that the club had considered.
Sunderland picked up their first win of the campaign on Saturday as they beat The Millers, thanks to a brace from Jobe Bellingham.
The Wearside outfit started the match without a striker once again, while Luis Hemir Semedo featured from the bench.
With less than two weeks remaining of the summer window, Sunderland are still without a new forward and have come under significant criticism from fans for their lack of transfer business.
However, links with Fulham’s Stansfield have increased this week and there are rumours that the 20-year-old could be about to join the Black Cats on loan.
“I said to you the other day I think they’ll be in tomorrow and they obviously weren’t, but I’ll say to you today I think they’ll be in tomorrow,” said Mowbray on Saturday evening.
“I think by the next time we meet we’ll have been working for a few days with a striker and hopefully he can help the team.
“Fingers crossed it’s moving forward and we’re getting stronger with our options. The way we work at this football club, we have two or three or maybe even four names that we’re juggling with.
“The young boy at Fulham, I shouldn’t talk about because nothing is done yet, but he’s one of the players we’ve had conversations about, but there are two or three other players we’ve had conversations about. We are juggling at the minute and it will be interesting to see which one falls for us.”
Who is Jay Stansfield?
Jay Stansfield joined Fulham’s academy in 2019 and made his senior debut in an FA Cup match against Aston Villa the following year, before earning his league debut in the Championship that same month.
After making a handful of appearances for Fulham – including three in the Premier League – Stansfield joined his boyhood club Exeter City on loan last season.
The forward picked up nine goals and seven assists as The Grecians finished 14th in League One.
Stansfield has now been heavily linked with another loan exit from Craven Cottage, with the likes of Millwall and QPR also interested in snapping him up this summer.