Sunderland are now entering the final two weeks of the summer transfer window.
The Black Cats have made four signings in Simon Moore, Alan Browne, Ian Poveda and Blondy Nna Noukeu.
It’s deja vu for Sunderland fans as the club remain under huge pressure to sign a senior striker before the deadline.
The Wearside outfit continue their hot pursuit of Caen striker Alexandre Mendy, but are struggling to haggle on the price of his signature.
It is believed they could also look to sign another young forward on loan from the Premier League, having already been linked with Tottenham Hotspur’s Will Lankshear.
While their main focus is on a new No.9, they also face losing a number of players.
Reports have shut down rumours that Jack Clarke has signed a new contract, with the winger still potentially on the move to the top flight over the next fortnight.
While talk of Trai Hume’s exit has gone quiet, there is still the possibility of the club selling Pierre Ekwah.
The Frenchman was linked with a move to Udinese last month and they now appear to have stepped up their bid to sign him.
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Serie A club set to make second offer for Pierre Ekwah
According to L’Equipe journalist Loic Tanzi, the Serie A club have made a seven-figure bid to take Ekwah away from the Stadium of Light.
Tanzi wrote on X: “Udinese made a first offer estimated at 5M € for Pierre Ekwah, rejected by Sunderland. The Italians must come back with a new proposal.”
Ekwah was a regular in Sunderland’s starting line-up last season, but really struggled to impress after recovering from an injury last year.
The ‘amazing’ 22-year-old is yet to reach full fitness after missing out on a chunk of pre-season, but made his comeback to the team in their Carabao Cup defeat to Preston North End.
Sunderland need to demand a much higher fee due to 30% sell-on clause
Ekwah is unlikely to re-establish his place in the team though, with the likes of Browne, Chris Rigg, Jobe Bellingham and Dan Neil battling it out to be included in the midfield three.
As he falls further down the pecking order this summer, Regis Le Bris has already refused to rule out a move away for him.
Speaking this week, the head coach said: “Everything is possible.
“At the moment, Pierre has only been able to play two games in pre season and in the second one, he got injured very early. So now he’s ready to play and to compete for the team.
“For sure, he needs some time to feel better and to build confidence and sharpness.
“So my focus is on tomorrow’s game [Preston] and then after that, we will see what happens.
“At the moment, he is still with us and I have no expectations as to what happens.”
Given Ekwah’s poor performances last term, Sunderland wouldn’t be criticised for offloading the midfielder this summer.
While Transfermarkt claim he is only worth £2.4m, the Black Cats should be looking for a significant increase on the £4.3m that Udinese have offered so far.
West Ham are believed to earn around 35% of his departure fee, which would leave Sunderland with very little if he was to leave for seven figures.
Ekwah will likely be keen on a move if he isn’t guaranteed regular football on Wearside, but Sunderland should only consider accepting a bid if it is closer to £10m. That would still potentially see them only earn around £6.5m of his price tag.
The West Ham academy graduate would still be a very good player to have around the squad, so it wouldn’t be the end of the world if they were to keep him.
However, if a decent second or third offer comes in from Udinese, then it would be incredibly difficult to say no.