Championship bottom club Sunderland wanted Peterborough United’s Jack Marriott – but £5m is well out of their price range for a League One player.
Chief executive Martin Bain hasn’t exactly endeared himself to Sunderland supporters since he was appointed in 2016.
In that time, The Black Cats have gone from the Premier League to League One, losing pretty much all of their decent players and replacing them with footballers of a far, far lower standard. See Vito Mannone for Jason Steele or Jermain Defoe for Ashley Fletcher.
And Bain has a daunting summer ahead with a cash-strapped, debt-ridden Sunderland set to lose the vast majority of their squad, either to raise funds or due to expiring contracts, with barely any money to find replacements.
The Sun pointed out recently that Sunderland have put together a list of transfer targets proven at League One level who could hopefully make the club’s stay in the third tier a short one. But, as Bain is discovering, just because a player is in the lower leagues doesn’t mean he’ll come cheap.
“We’ve been speaking about players in League One with a view to joining us, whichever league we find ourselves in,” Bain told the Shields Gazette.
“You wouldn’t believe some of the values being attached, even at that level. Whether that is because we’re Sunderland, I don’t know.”
There’s one player in particular he could be referring to. Back in December, The Mail stated that Sunderland were planning to target Peterborough United’s prolific Jack Marriott, who has scored a remarkable 32-goals in all competitions this season and is the Football League’s top scorer.
But The Mail now claims that Peterborough want £5 million for a striker who has never played above League One level – and only joined from Luton Town last summer for £500,000.
Clearly, £5 million for Marriott is out of Sunderland’s reach. Cheaper additions must be sounded out and that makes Bain’s job even harder.
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