Tony Mowbray has made a concerning claim about Sunderland’s search for a new striker.
Speaking to The Northern Echo, the Black Cats boss suggested Sunderland won’t sign another forward in the January transfer window.
Sunderland have been without a goalscoring striker since Ross Stewart picked up a serious injury back in January, with Joe Gelhardt taking his place on loan for the second half of the campaign.
The Leeds United star managed only three goals before he returned to Elland Road, with the Wearside outfit expected to bring in an experienced signing to fill the boots of Stewart.
The Scot went onto join Southampton on transfer deadline day, while Sunderland brought in Eliezer Mayenda, Nazariy Rusyn, Luis Hemir and Mason Burstow to bolster their attack.
With no Championship experience between them all, Sunderland are yet to see one of their strikers score since Gelhardt’s opener against Huddersfield Town in April.
The four summer signings have been rotated this term in the hope that one of them will find the net, but they have so far disappointed in front of goal.
With many fans hoping they would bring in a proven goalscorer in January, Mowbray has now admitted that he isn’t sure whether they will get their wish.
“I don’t know if we will be signing a striker,” he said.
“I do get asked of course, and sit in recruitment meetings but we haven’t had one yet about January.
“But I think the club will say to me ‘we have Mayenda, Rusyn, Hemir and Burstow on loan from Chelsea, so you have four strikers, what do you want another striker for’?
“That’s probably how I think it will go. But that is OK, that is fine, we will just have to keep working with them.
“We show them their clips after every game to see what they could have done better.
“They are here to learn and grow and hopefully they will become major players.
“I am not sure they are ready to quite help us win games like at Millwall with all the possession we have to win 3-0. We haven’t got that striker at this moment.”
Can Sunderland cope without a new striker?
While he claimed that it is ‘fine’ that he wouldn’t have an extra striker at his disposal, Tony Mowbray is surely getting frustrated at the club’s refusal to bring in a decent replacement for Ross Stewart.
The 60-year-old is under a lot of pressure recently after a run of poor form, and while the rest of the team is also underperforming, a goalscorer could make all the difference in the second half of the campaign.
The Black Cats will surely have to make signings elsewhere to make up for it though, with Amad Diallo hopefully still on their radar.
The Ivorian made a huge impact last season and could make a real difference, while he could also provide a lot more chances for the struggling strikers.