Sunderland prepared to off-load strikers

Dec 1 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

SUNDERLAND are preparing to clear the decks of their fringe strikers to pave the way for the return of promising teenage frontman Martyn Waghorn.

Sunderland manager Steve Bruce has blocked loan deals for Daryl Murphy and David Healy this season in case he needed them but is not convinced they can cut it at Premier League level and he is ready to sell both in the January transfer window.

Irish striker Roy O’Donovan is set for the exit door too as Bruce plans an overhaul of the forward options he has below first-choice trio Kenwyne Jones, Darren Bent and Fraizer Campbell.

That would free Bruce to bring back Waghorn from Leicester City, where he has become a key part of Nigel Pearson’s side’s promotion push.

The Sunderland academy graduate has scored four goals in 17 games and Pearson is desperate to keep hold of the 19-year-old.

But sources close to Bruce have indicated that he would like to take a closer look at the striker. And, although the young forward has expressed his interest in staying with the Foxes until the end of the season – something Pearson is keen to push through in the January transfer window – letting Healy, Murphy and O’Donovan go would leave Sunderland thin on resources up

front. With question marks surrounding the goal threat offered by Campbell, who is yet to score in the Premier League for the Black Cats, Bruce would be prepared to give Waghorn first-team experience if he returned to Wearside.

It still promises to be an awkward conversation with the forward, who reaffirmed his desire to stay in the East Midlands after bagging a goal for Leicester at Scunthorpe on Saturday.

“It would be a wrench to leave as long as I’m enjoying it,” he said.