Sydney FC are praying that Adam Le Fondre stays in Australia and resists the urge to return to England with Sunderland, coach Steve Corica admits to FTBL.
As Phil Parkinson pointed out over the weekend, you can never have enough reliable goal-scorers if you are fighting for promotion.
Considering that a lack of firepower was the primary reason why Sunderland finished eight in League One last season, the Black Cats deserve credit for making clear steps to solve their Achilles heel.
Aiden O’Brien could soon be joined at the Stadium of Light by another proven third-tier front man in ex-Blackburn Rovers ace Danny Graham, with talks underway.
The Mail, meanwhile, reported in July that Sunderland were also interested in offering 33-year-old Le Fondre the chance to reunite with his former Bolton boss Parkinson on Wearside.
“Of course we want him to stay – he’s (our) leading goal-scorer, he’s been that for us for the last couple of seasons,” Corica said of a man whose 21 strikes have put Sydney FC in contention for successive A-League titles.
“But I think a lot of players have got doubt in their minds – what’s happening next season, no-one really knows what’s going.
“So obviously that would be in the back of all players’ minds I think at the moment but it’s something we can’t control right now.”
Speaking to the Daily Telegraph recently, Le Fondre admitted that it was ‘nice’ to see that his goal-scoring exploits Down Under had not gone unnoticed by clubs back home in England.
A wily, penalty-box poacher, the former Reading and Rotherham talisman fired Parkinson’s Bolton side to promotion from League One three years ago.
If he can repeat the trick at Sunderland, then he will have a place in the club’s pantheon of modern day legends to call his own.
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