It’s fair to say Bolton striker Gary Madine is not the signing Sunderland fans were dreaming of in January.
Chris Coleman would have known that the likes of Mauro Icardi, Edinson Cavani and Alvaro Morata would be a little out of his price range when taking over at Sunderland in November.
The former Wales boss already appears to be diving into the bargain basement as he desperately attempts to reinforce his squad ahead of what is likely to be a really testing second half of the campaign in the North East.
And you can understand why Sunderland supporters aren’t exactly confident about their survival prospects. The Sunderland Echo states that Gary Madine is one of their top targets during the January transfer window.
The 27-year-old, Gateshead-born frontman scored twice in the 3-1 win against Barnsley at the weekend but has just six goals in 20 games for fellow Championship strugglers Bolton Wanderers this season.
Altogether Madine has tallied a hugely unimpressive 16 goals in 117 games at Championship level. So with Sunderland fans fearful that they will lose the ten-goal top scorer Lewis Grabban in January, TEAMtalk claiming parent club Bournemouth to exercise their re-call option, links with Madine will hardly ease the nagging pessimism once again taking hold at the Stadium of Light.
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