Sunderland reportedly plan to target Wigan Athletic defender Cedric Kipre if they manage to get promoted.
Sunderland will look to replicate their January move for Will Grigg by targeting Cedric Kipre from Wigan Athletic if they manage to get promoted this season, according to a report from the Sunday People (5/5; page 51).
The Black Cats missed out on automatic-promotion after an underwhelming end to the campaign in which Jack Ross' men won one of their final seven games. But they do have a second chance, with a play-off semi-final with Portsmouth ahead next weekend.
And it appears that Sunderland are already making some plans for if they manage to get promoted back to the Championship. The Sunday People (5/5; page 51) reports that Ross is keen on signing Kipre.
The Black Cats managed to sign Grigg from the Latics for £4 million during the January transfer window, with BBC Sport reporting that they needed to make eight bids before landing the Northern Ireland international.
Kipre has made 37 league appearances for Paul Cook's side following his summer switch from Motherwell. And it seems unlikely that they will be particularly open to letting him leave during the upcoming window, particularly if the Black Cats end up joining them in the second tier next season.
But Sunderland obviously have one very large hurdle to clear before they are in a position to go after the Ivory Coast under-23 international. None of the other teams in the play-offs took fewer points from their last five games than Sunderland, so Ross has plenty of work to do to get his side across the line.
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