Clarke-Harris may be Toney 2.0

The January switch window is sort of midway by completion and Sunderland are but to exchange Ellis Simms on the Stadium of Gentle.

Tony Mowbray misplaced one in every of his frontline choices on the high finish of the pitch as Premier League aspect Everton opted to recall the quantity 9 at first of the month.

This has left the Black Cats able the place they’re now scrambling to exchange a participant they could have thought they might have till the top of the season, at the very least.

When requested if he would favor a mortgage or a everlasting signing in that place, Mowbray said:

“I feel each are acceptable. We do must try to signal our personal gamers however to assist our state of affairs a mortgage is not a foul possibility both.

“I do assume the precedence is to signal footballers that we expect are the appropriate high quality to assist the membership going ahead, as a result of loans clearly return to their dad or mum golf equipment.”

Earlier this month, it was reported that Sunderland are exhibiting an curiosity in prolific Peterborough centre-forward Jonson Clarke-Harris.

Posh boss Darren Ferguson has revealed that the striker, who journalist Luke Flanagan hailed as “dangerous“, might be bought if a proposal of £5m got here in.

While it stays to be seen whether or not or not the Black Cats can be keen to pay that payment, Kristjaan Speakman may land the membership’s personal model of Ivan Toney by signing the 28-year-old, who Ferguson as soon as dubbed a “winner“.

Toney, who has scored 12 targets in 16 Premier League matches this season, burst onto the scene with Peterborough by scoring 24 targets in 32 League One video games in the course of the 2019/20 marketing campaign – after scoring 16 in 44 the earlier 12 months.

The striker then earned himself a transfer to Championship aspect Brentford and plundered a whopping 31 targets in 45 matches for the Bees on their technique to promotion to the top-flight.

Clarke-Harris changed Toney at Peterborough for the 2020/21 marketing campaign and produced a surprising season as he scored 31 targets in 45 outings in League One – matching the Brentford gem’s second-division tally.

Nonetheless, he was unable to duplicate the England worldwide’s Championship kind as he scored 12 instances in 41 video games, though his aspect have been relegated from the league as a substitute of difficult for promotion – presumably limiting his goalscoring potential.

Clarke-Harris, who has scored 13 targets in 24 third-tier outings this time period, has proven that he has the potential to be a prolific scorer within the Championship, as Toney was, and taking part in for a group competing for the play-offs could possibly be the platform he wants with a view to showcase it.

Due to this fact, Sunderland, who’re one level off the highest six, may land their very own model of the Brentford marksman by bringing the Peterborough attacker in to exchange Simms.