Sunderland, Hull City and Watford in race to sign departing Sheffield United player | OneFootball

Sunderland, Hull City and Watford have all been linked with soon-to-be free agent Oli Norwood, who is set to leave Bramall Lane at the end of his current deal.

There are uncertain futures ahead of a lot of current second tier sides, none more so than Sunderland and Hull. The pair are without a head coach or manager, and are pursuing options to fill these roles; the Black Cats are looking at City's recently departed boss Liam Rosenior.

Watford are a bit more stable in this regard, with manager Tom Cleverley being appointed as the club's permanent manager at the end of April. Although, with their history of chopping and changing coaches, his job isn't necessarily secure either.

The three teams also have the small matter of the summer transfer window to deal with. After varying degrees of feeling underwhelmed were felt by this trio of second tier sides, they need to make sure that they get their moves right between now and the start of the season.

One of the places they are reported to be looking is at some of the Premier League free agents, and a veteran midfielder is said to have caught the attention of them all.

Sunderland, Hull and Watford interested in Oli Norwood

Football Insider have reported that the Championship trio are all interested in bringing the former Manchester United academy member to their clubs.

Sunderland, who have the youngest squad in the division, are looking to add an experienced player to their group. Similarly, Hull had built a squad that was full of youth, but an offer to Norwood would show that they are going down a different avenue, following the sacking of Rosenior.

The 33-year-old Blade would join alongside fellow experienced midfield operator Jake Livermore if he makes a move to Vicarage Road in the summer.

Football Insider added that there is expected to be interest from the MLS in Norwood too.

Oli Norwood would be a great fit for all three teams

Clubs that are in the position which the Black Cats and the Tigers are/hope to be in tend to just need a couple of extra pieces to get themselves over the top.

Despite the disappointment that they felt in the 2023/24 campaign, in which they finished 16th, Sunderland's aspirations will be to try and get themselves back into that play-off mix, if not higher. Although they will need to keep a lot of their talented players, who are being coveted by big clubs, in order to do so.

Signing Norwood is the type of deal that Tony Mowbray wanted to do last summer, but his ideas about bringing in more experienced legs into the squad were not properly acted upon, as per the Northern Echo.

Hull are probably the closest to that position of being a couple of additions away from getting over the top. They narrowly missed out on the play-offs, finishing seventh in the league, which, with the squad that they had, could easily be considered to be a bad season.

Watford don't necessarily have the obvious resources, like the other two do, to suggest that they could be fighting for promotion next season, but a midfield of Livermore and Norwood, combined with their other younger talents, could make for a tough team.

A promotion-pusher would be the more obvious choice, from Norwood's perspective; the Tigers and the Black Cats fit that bill a bit better than the Hornets.

The team that ends up getting him will hugely benefit from his vast experience in the second tier, and the Premier League, and it will be an interesting battle if these three sides continue to vie for him.