Sunderland apparently considered signing the forward on transfer deadline day.
In comments reported by the West Sussex Gazette, Mark Robins has suggested that Sunderland were amongst the sides to make an deadline day enquiry for Jonson Clarke-Harris before the forward left Coventry City for Bristol Rovers.
Clarke-Harris only spent a year back at the Ricoh Arena before moving on to join their League One rivals. The 24-year-old scored three goals while on loan with the Sky Blues during the second-half of last season, and bagged another five strikes this term.
The Gas were the ones to sign Clarke-Harris. But Robins suggested that a number of other sides made late moves for the forward, and one of those was Sunderland.
“There was Fleetwood, there was Sunderland and there was Portsmouth early on. I have no idea what happened,” he said, as reported by the West Sussex Gazette.
“I was told Portsmouth and Sunderland were going to make a bid so then you think what that will look like, and can we do something ourselves off the back of it. But we have had limited time to do it.”
The Black Cats managed to get a striker through the Stadium of Light door on deadline day despite missing out on Clarke-Harris. Will Grigg signed from Wigan Athletic, with BBC Sport reporting that Sunderland paid £4 million for the Northern Ireland international.
Given Grigg’s record in the third tier, it would be no surprise if the Sunderland fans were delighted with the signing that they ended up with on the final day of the window.
He has scored 64 goals across his last three League One campaigns, so he looks like an incredibly smart signing. But with Bristol Rovers hosting Jack Ross’ side later this month, Clarke-Harris will soon have a chance to prove that the Black Cats should have followed up their initial interest.
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