Sunderland are reportedly interested in signing striker Gary Madine from Championship relegation rivals Bolton Wanderers in the January transfer window.
Bolton Wanderers looked dead and buried not so long ago. But Phil Parkinson’s side are rejuvenated right now and, after beating Hull City 1-0 in the first game of 2018, have jumped out of the bottom three.
Most of this is thanks to Gary Madine. The influential centre-forward has been simply superb in recent weeks, scoring in wins against Cardiff City and Sheffield United before netting that free-kick winner Hull to take his tally up to nine for the season.
The chances of relegation rivals Sunderland tempting Bolton into a sale in January, then, are looking more remote by the game.
According to The Mirror (live transfer blog, 11.08am), the Black Cats are monitoring the £3 million-rated frontman – but Parkinson believes his side have no reason to sell Madine this month despite Bolton’s high-profile financial problems.
“I have been told I will be keeping my best players,” he said. “We have to strengthen, we can’t even think about letting players like Gaz go in this window.”
It looks like Sunderland, then, will have to look elsewhere. As reported by The Mirror, Black Cats boss Chris Coleman is keen to bring Ben Woodburn to the Stadium of Light on loan from Liverpool but, despite the 18-year-old’s undoubted potential, he does not have the same proven Championship track-record that Madine can lay claim to.
But it seemed that Sunderland were always up against it trying to snatch Madine from Bolton. After all, why would they sell their star man to a team who could go head-to-head with them for survival?
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