Does Sunderland’s interest in Millwall’s Lee Gregory hint at League One planning?

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Sunderland are bottom of the Championship and slipping towards League One – so signing Millwall striker Lee Gregory would make perfect sense.

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail, as the old saying goes.

With Sunderland bottom of the Championship table and now four points adrift of safety, it makes sense for the crisis-ridden Wearsiders to at least put plans in place for the very real prospect of successive relegations.

Therefore, perhaps the identity of their first summer transfer target is an indication that the Black Cats are already looking for players capable of making a potential stay in the third tier of English football a short one.

The Mail claims that a Sunderland side so strapped for cash that they did not spend a penny in the January transfer window despite their precarious situation are looking at Millwall striker Lee Gregory.

The 29-year-old, a hard-working and lively number nine, is out of contract in the summer of 2019 so Sunderland will be hoping that Millwall would be willing to cash in on a cut-price deal at the end of this season.

Considering Gregory’s record in League One football, he would be a fine addition to an attack currently relying upon the struggling Middlesbrough loanee Ashley Fletcher.

After all, the former Halifax Town talisman scored 35 goals in two third tier seasons with Millwall, including 17 in the 2016/17 season to fire them to promotion via the play-offs.

Gregory has found goals harder to come by in the Championship, however, and Sunderland’s interest may be the clearest sign yet that they have acknowledged that there is a very real chance they will be playing the likes of Walsall, Oxford and Oldham next season.