It’s been no great covered-up secret this January transfer window that Black Cats boss Regis Le Bris is looking to sprinkle in some more quality to his Sunderland side in the attacking positions.
Indeed, the Black Cats were pursuing the services of Tom Cannon as a statement buy up top, only for the ex-Stoke City loanee now said to be closing in on a move to promotion rivals Sheffield United instead.
Other names in the striker department continue to be linked with a move to Wearside, but it isn’t just in the centre-forward areas where the Frenchman will want to improve in attack, with an exciting winger now on their radar.
Sunderland chasing signature of new winger
As per a report by Football Insider this week, Sunderland are very much locked in a race this window to try and snap up Celtic winger Luis Palma, with a whole host of other Championship clubs sniffing around alongside the Black Cats.
Football Insider reveals that Swansea City and Queens Park Rangers are also eyeing up the Bhoys forward, with Palma presumably keen to leave the Glasgow giants behind owing to his game-time depleting this season under Brendan Rodgers.
Of course, the promotion chasers have struck absolute gold in the past when recruiting attackers that have called Scotland home briefly, with Patrick Roberts entering the building in 2022 after a memorable loan stint at Celtic Park.
What Palma could offer Sunderland
Whilst Palma’s time at Celtic has begun to fizzle out, he could go on to be the second coming of Roberts if a move was sealed, as the Honduras international has shown in the past that he can dazzle down the left wing for his current employers.
After all, the 25-year-old did put together some promising numbers during his debut season donning the iconic green and white hoops of Celtic.
Across his explosive 2023/24 campaign, Palma would help himself to a mightily impressive ten goals and ten assists in all competitions, with two of those strikes even coming in the Champions League as the wantaway attacker showed off his quality on Europe’s grandest stage.
Roberts would equally thrive at Celtic Park before taking the leap to join Sunderland permanently down the line, with his own impressive goal and assist haul of 18 strikes and 26 assists tallied up during his two-season loan spell at the club.
He would never look back when securing a deal to join the Black Cats for good, with the 27-year-old up to two goals and five assists this season down the right wing as one of the more experienced heads in the youthful Stadium of Light dressing room.
Romaine Mundle
15
4
2
Tom Watson
10
2
0
Jewison Bennette
0
0
0
Whilst the Sunderland stalwart continues to excite on his familiar right channel, the options on the opposing flank aren’t exactly endless for Le Bris when looking at the table above, with Enzo Le Fee drafted into this position in the past couple of weeks owing to both Romaine Mundle and Tom Watson nursing worrying injury knocks.
That’s where the “magic” Celtic attacker – as he was once labelled by former Bhoys great Peter Grant – could come in and save the day, with a new striker perhaps also joining him through the door very soon.
Sunderland just won’t want to be left behind in the ongoing automatic promotion race, with signings such as Palma no doubt boosting their attack ahead of some crunch months to come in the intense Championship.
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