It’s fair to say the mood around Sunderland at the moment is sour, Hull City’s narrow 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light on Friday night piling on the pressure Michael Beale is feeling in the Black Cats hot-seat already.
Barely a month into his new post on Wearside, the performance against the Tigers saw the fading Championship hopefuls fail to ever really create chances of any meaning and his managerial acumen has therefore been scrutinised.
Sunderland would leave the field of play having only accumulated 0.77 xG all match, with a first-time Fabio Carvalho effort for the visitors the difference on the night.
Beale could attempt to get fans back on side again by going all in for this transfer target, with the stuttering second-tier side now bidding for this attacker’s services according to reports.
Sunderland searching for a striker
With Nazariy Rusyn substituted off in the second half last game after another timid display up top, Sunderland’s main priority in this transfer window remains recruiting a brand-new, potent centre-forward.
Revealed by football journalist Adam Leventhal whilst writing for the Athletic last Wednesday, the underwhelming Black Cats have now submitted a loan offer to sign dangerous sharpshooter Kieffer Moore who has found the back of the net in the Championship before in his career with unerring regularity.
With Ipswich Town also keen to sign the current AFC Bournemouth man by submitting their own proposal to the Welshman, it will be intriguing to see who the Cherries striker picks to join for the remainder of the campaign.
Sunderland midfielder Alex Pritchard, who himself is being touted for a transfer away from the Black Cats this window, would jump for joy playing alongside Moore with his creative powers potentially supercharged as a result of the towering 6 foot 5 attacker joining.
Why Pritchard would benefit Moore
During his peak in a Sunderland strip, Pritchard was virtually unplayable as an assist king.
The now waning 30-year-old notched up a remarkable 13 assists to help his Wearside employers clinch promotion back up to the second tier during the 2021/22 campaign, the hard to contain attacking midfielder even assisting both goals in that season’s Playoff Final.
Teeing up Ross Stewart for the game-clinching goal at Wembley, Pritchard will hope the Black Cats come across a new prolific striker akin to the Scotsman in Moore this January.
Bagging 47 goals playing in the second tier to date – which included a 20-goal standout season with Cardiff City at the level along the way – Beale will be doing everything in his power to try and land the Cherries striker this month to boost his side’s dim promotion hopes.
Bluebirds boss at the time Mick McCarthy waxed lyrical about his imposing centre-forward after Moore scored a late-season brace back in 2021, stating that the shift he puts in every week for his side is “amazing”.
With Pritchard enjoying a mini resurgence in the side and finding his A-Game again – picking up three assists last month alongside netting a screamer against Preston North End to kickstart his 2024 – Beale will pray that his diminutive creator stays put at the Stadium of Light past this transfer window.
If Pritchard does remain, the 30-year-old midfielder will hope that Moore is the clinical striker his side have been crying out for with the ex-Huddersfield Town man potentially playing with a bigger smile on his face knowing the deadly Welshman won’t waste a chance put to him.