Sunderland are reportedly tracking Blackburn Rovers’ prized asset, Connor Mahoney – and they may be powerless to prevent his exit.
It would be slightly rich for Sunderland to take pleasure in another team’s pain. If there is one side who understand the heartbreak of relegation, it is the Black Cats after a horrific season glued to the bottom of the Premier League table.
Though it is difficult to ignore the notion that Blackburn Rovers slipping into the third tier of English football for the first time since 1980 could be a major benefit to Sunderland’s summer plans.
The Sun reported last month that the Wearsiders were looking to nab highly-rated winger Connor Mahoney from Blackburn, aided by the fact that the 20-year-old is out of contract in the summer and could be available for as little as a £250,000 development fee.
This certainly represents value for money for a debt-ridden Sunderland – a club that has infamously made a profit on just four of their last 47 signings.
And Mahoney would surely add a degree of cutting edge to an often bleak attack. It seems more than likely that Fabio Borini, Wahbi Khazri and Manchester United loanee Adnan Januzaj will all be on their way out of the Stadium of Light once the season is over.
Therefore, Mahoney’s direct dribbling and confidence in the final third, reflected by three assists in the last two months, may ensure that he would see plenty of first-team football if he moved from Ewood Park this summer.
Blackburn’s Head of Football operations, Paul Senior, told the Lancashire Telegraph in February that the club were determined to keep the former Accrington youngster at the club and had put a long-term contract on the table.
However, with Blackburn hitting yet another new low, it appears that the double whammy of losing their prized asset is nothing more than an inevitability.
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