BBC Radio Newcastle’s Nick Barnes joined Sunderland Echo journalists Phil Smith and Mark Donnelly on the most recent edition of The Roar podcast and during the show, Barnes shared that he believes signing another centre forward has “got to be” on Black Cats manager Phil Parkinson’s mind.
Sunderland have made six new additions to their first-team squad on a permanent basis for the 2020/21 season, as per Transfermarkt, one of whom, Danny Graham, is a centre forward.
According to Transfermarkt, the Black Cats have currently got a total of four natural centre forwards in their first-team squad, however, during this recent edition of The Roar podcast, Barnes shared that he thinks this is an area in which the North East club may recruit once again before the domestic-only transfer window closes on Friday 16th October.
After being asked if he could see Parkinson signing another striker, Barnes said: “It’s got to be on his mind. If you’re going to be thinking about getting out of League One this season and you’re trying to tick off every option and you’re making sure you’re covering your back, if I was the manager, I would certainly, in the back of my mind, be thinking ‘what if it doesn’t happen with Graham, [Charlie] Wyke and [Will] Grigg?
“Then, do you have some sort of contingency to at least give yourself a chance? I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they are looking.
“At the moment, it’s sort of gnawing away at me. I’m trying to sit and be sanguine about the fact that the three aren’t getting goals at the moment and trusting that when Phil Parkinson says, ‘oh, well they will come good, they’re good players’ that he’s right, but I’d hate to get [to] the other side of October the 16th and in four weeks’ time, we’re still looking at three strikers who are just not on fire.
“So, I suspect it’s something that they are considering. I think if I was in that position, you’d just want to cover yourself, you’d want to cover your back.”
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TIF Thoughts…
So, judging by what Barnes had to say, it seems as though he isn’t 100% convinced that the Black Cats’ current striking options will be good enough to assure them of promotion from England’s third tier this term and as a result, he thinks that the club may be looking at bringing in one more player in that position.
Sunderland have scored four goals in their opening four games of the 2020/21 League One campaign. Only five teams have scored fewer League One goals than them so far this season and with that in mind, it may be fair to say that they haven’t exactly been scoring freely.
As a result, we feel it may not be a surprise if they do go back into the transfer market to get themselves one more striking option before next Friday’s deadline.
However, it is still very early days in the 2020/21 League One season, so it may yet be too early to definitively conclude that the Black Cats’ current striking options are not good enough.