“Ludicrous” – Fan pundit frustrated by Sunderland January transfer failing | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Sunderland only have one striker to call upon for the final months of the 2022/23 campaign after failing to add more forward firepower before Tuesday’s transfer deadline.

The Black Cats beat a host of Championship clubs to the signing of Leeds United 20-year-old Joe Gelhardt on loan but saw Ellis Simms recalled by Everton at the start of January and lost Ross Stewart to a season-ending injury late last month.

They opted against signing another forward despite the injury to their star number nine and now have only Gelhardt to call upon for the rest of the campaign.

That looks a major gamble – particularly given they went weeks without a striker to call upon in the first half of the season due to injuries.

FLW’s Sunderland fan pundit Jack Austwicke has slammed the North East club for not signing another centre-forward before the window closed.

He said: “I like the recruitment, I like our model, I like what we’re doing as a club but that is quite disappointing.

“It was bad enough starting the season with only two strikers but now we’re going to have to end the season with one.

“Our FA Cup run, however long that will go on, we will not have a striker for all of that as Joe Gelhardt will be cup-tied.

“One injury to Gelhardt and we’re really going to struggle so I just think it’s ludicrous how you can only have one striker at the club.”

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Gelhardt looks in line to make his Sunderland debut when the Black Cats face fellow top six hopefuls Millwall at The Den tomorrow.

A victory could catapult Mowbray’s side into the play-off places if results elsewhere go their way.