Tony Mowbray says he is 'hopeful, rather than confident' that Sunderland will bring in strikers before the transfer deadline to share the goalscoring burden with Ross Stewart - and admits it is looking less and less likely that Ellis Simms will return to Wearside. Everton's decision to recall Simms from his loan spell at the beginning of the month has left Stewart as Sunderland's only out-and-out centre-forward, and has meant the Black Cats are working hard to bring in at least one more attacking option this month.
A series of strikers including Leeds United's Joe Gelhardt, Nottingham Forest's Sam Surridge, and Blackpool's Jerry Yates have been linked with Sunderland, but so far no attacking reinforcements have arrived. One possibility was that Simms would be allowed to rejoin Sunderland on loan later in the month but Mowbray has his doubts over whether relegation-threatened Everton, who this week sacked manager Frank Lampard, will let that happen.
Asked whether he was confident he would get the strikers he needs this month, he said: "I'm hopeful, rather than confident, because some of these deals are not easy to do. You have targets, you have discussions, you meet players, you talk to clubs - not necessarily me, but others trying to get deals over the line.
