Sunderland's hopes of bringing back Ellis Simms from Everton are fast fading as Championship rivals Coventry City close in on a deal for the striker.
How many goals has Ellis Simms scored?
Simms starred on loan with Sunderland in the first half of the 2022-23 Championship campaign with seven goals and two assists in 17 appearances.
That form earned the 22-year-old a recall to parent club Everton at the start of January, but he was restricted to just two Premier League starts – albeit one of those coming in February's Merseyside derby at Anfield, which the Toffees lost 2-0.
The high point for Simms undoubtedly came in March when scoring a late equaliser for Everton in a 2-2 draw away at Chelsea, with that likely to be his one and only goal for the club.
Sunderland understandably held an interest in signing Simms on a permanent basis once it became clear Everton were willing to sell, while Ipswich Town also placed a £4m bid, but The Athletic reports that Coventry are close to completing a deal worth between £6-8m.
Who are Sunderland signing?
The Black Cats have already brought in a new striker ahead of the new season, with Luis 'Hemir' Semedo arriving from Benfica. However, the 19-year-old has no senior experience, let alone experience of English football, so Tony Mowbray could do with signing at least one more forward.
According to TEAMtalk, Leeds United's Sonny Perkins is being eyed up by Sunderland, as well as Blackburn Rovers, with the Whites greenlighting his loan exit for the 2023/24 campaign.
Perkins featured three times for Leeds in cup competitions last season, each coming under former boss Jesse Marsch, and scored his first senior goal in an FA Cup third-round tie against Cardiff City – rescuing his side from a shock exit with a late goal in a 2-2 draw in South Wales.
The 19-year-old earned his first-team chance after scoring 11 goals across 18 Premier League 2 appearances, while also making an impact in the EFL Trophy with one goal in three games.
Perkins previously featured in a Premier League game for West Ham United, too, meaning the future is clearly bright for the 19-year-old, who was described as "dangerous" by U21 manager Michael Skubala last season.
To put Perkins' PL2 figures into some perspective, he averaged 0.85 goals and assists combined per 90 minutes last season, which compares to 0.67 for Simms in his most recent full season at that level in 2020-21, as per FBref.
Simms was directly involved in 0.72 goals per 90 minutes last season, a figure bettered only by Ross Stewart (1.12) among Sunderland players. The Black Cats undoubtedly need to find someone who can make just as big an impact, then, and Perkins – on £1.6k per week at Leeds, according to Salary Sport – may just be that man.
Much in the same way that not a great deal was expected from Simms when he rocked up on Wearside 12 months ago, Sunderland will be hoping for a similar masterstroke if the Perkins rumours are indeed true.