Ellis Simms is looking increasingly unlikely to rejoin Sunderland this summer.
The Northern Echo have reported that the Black Cats may pull out of the race for the striker as they don’t want to get into a bidding war for his signature.
Everton are eager to offload Simms but will demand up to a whopping £10 million to lure him away from Goodison Park.
The 22-year-old has attracted interest from the likes of Ipswich Town, Swansea City and Coventry City after a successful loan spell on Wearside last season.
The forward netted seven goals in the first half of the campaign before he was recalled to Merseyside, where he scored once but spent most of his return on the bench.
Sunderland were keen to reunite with Simms to bolster their threadbare attack this summer, however Everton’s latest valuation looks to be far beyond what they are willing to pay.
With a number of clubs looking to sign Simms, the Black Cats aren’t prepared to enter the inevitable bidding war and could quickly turn their focus elsewhere rather than wasting their time on a race they look likely to lose.
Sunderland will be forgiven for not paying £10m for Ellis Simms
Ellis Simms became a fan favourite during his brief spell at the Stadium of Light, however a majority of the fan base will accept that he is worth significantly less than Everton’s price tag.
The Toffees clearly don’t rate Simms but are instead trying to make as much money as possible to help out their own financial difficulties.
The attacker only has 17 appearances to his name in the Championship and, while he impressed, he certainly isn’t proven enough to be coughing up that kind of money.
With Coventry set to cash in eight figures for Viktor Gyokeres and Swansea prepared to offer a swap deal including Joel Piroe, Sunderland would do extremely well to ever come out on top in a bidding war.