Bournemouth will sell Lewis Grabban after re-calling him from Sunderland and one of Wolves, Fulham or Bristol City could hand him a return to the Championship.
Sunderland’s worst fears came true on Friday when Bournemouth exercised the re-call clause in Lewis Grabban’s contract, allowing them to cancel his loan spell at the Stadium of Light midway through the season.
Their loss, however, could represent a major gain for another Championship club. The Mirror (9.18am) reports that Fulham, Wolves and Bristol City are now hoping to sign Grabban permanently for the second half of the season, with a bid of £7 million likely to tempt Bournemouth into a sale.
It is understood that Fulham, who have been nowhere near as prolific as they were last season, with summer signings Rui Fonte and Aboubakar Kamara struggling to make an impact, are leading the chase for Grabban.
But it is interesting to note that Wolves are still keen despite completing the eye-catching signing of Spanish wonder-kid Rafa Mir from Valencia last week, from under the noses of Real Madrid no less.
Mir, for all his talent, is completely unproven at senior level, let alone the English Championship. In comparison, Grabban has been there and done it before, scoring a shed-load for Bournemouth and also firing Norwich City to the top flight in 2015.
And after scoring 12 goals in 19 games for a struggling Sunderland side currently sitting bottom of the league table, it is clear that Grabban has still got it at the age of 29.
So his £7 million transfer fee – a figure that Wolves Chinese owners should have no trouble paying – would fade into insignificance if Grabban can fire the Black Country club into the Premier League.
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