The future of Jack Clarke remains unclear as he awaits offers from the Premier League.
The Sunderland winger was subject to huge interest last season, as he bagged 19 goal contributions in 40 matches.
However, Clarke is yet to receive any bids after the Black Cats placed a £25 million price tag on his head.
The likes of Southampton and Ipswich Town have been linked with the forward, but are believed to be put off by his valuation.
That hasn’t stopped Sunderland from looking at potential replacements for Clarke though, with Liam Millar one of a number of names on their radar.
The Canadian bagged five goals and five assists whilst on loan at Preston North End last season and has since earned plenty of interest from clubs looking to bring him back to the Championship.
Sunderland’s interest hasn’t progressed much further and they now face missing out on his signature to Hull City.
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Sunderland could miss out on Liam Millar
The Athletic reported last week that the Tigers had made a bid for Millar, but it had gone quiet since.
However, journalist Darren Witcoop has now wrote on X: “Hull remain in talks over a deal with FC Basel for winger Liam Millar and with Leicester for wideman Kasey McAteer. Hull face competition from a number of Championship clubs for the pair.”
Hull will look to replace Jaden Philogene with Millar, having sold the 22-year-old to Aston Villa for £12.6m.
The Black Cats should sell Jack Clarke sooner rather than later
The Yorkshire outfit are likely to have a lot more money to play with at the moment, while Sunderland won’t want to bring in Clarke’s potential replacement until he actually leaves.
That puts the Black Cats in a very vulnerable position, because if he ends up moving to the top flight in the final days of the transfer window then that leaves Sunderland only days to bring in someone capable of filling his boots.
If the 23-year-old is almost definitely going to leave then it seems a much more sensible decision to try and offload him in the next couple of weeks, so there are still players like Millar available to sign, rather than panic buying at the last minute.
Millar could well have been a really good replacement for Clarke, but it looks very unlikely that he will still be available once Sunderland have confirmed the future of their star player.