Michael Beale has revealed that Sunderland intend to recruit another striker this month. Although the head coach is fully aware of the rumors linking the Black Cats with a plethora of frontmen, he insists that the club will not budge from its views and would only bring in a player who is “the right fit.”
While Sunderland strive to strengthen their front line in January, Beale has confirmed Mason Burstow will not return to Chelsea and will remain on Wearside for the remainder of the season.
Burstow has only started one Championship game since October, prompting speculation that the 20-year-old could return to his parent club this month, but Beale insists that will not be the case.
“I believe Mason will stay here,” Beale remarked.
“We’ve had those discussions, and as of now, he’ll be here until the end of the season.” He’s preparing well, and he did start seven games for the former coach, and the squad played well despite Mason’s absence.”
Even with Burstow staying, Sunderland are prioritizing the signing of a No.9 this month as they seek to address their striker shortage. Nazariy Rusyn’s goal against Preston on New Year’s Day was the first and only goal scored by one of the club’s four strikers this season.
“We’re looking,” Beale said. We’re in contact with every No.9 who is currently alive, but we’re seeking for the proper No.9 to come in and fit in. It must be inside our budget, and the player must come and be extremely motivated to assist us.
“There are two other positions we’re looking at.”
“It’s a difficult month in general.” A few teams appear to be piling up around us. Some teams have already completed their tasks. That’s not to suggest we’re not working hard in the background. We are. But there’s nothing to report at the moment.”
Despite Sunderland’s goal to strengthen the forward line this month, Beale remains confident in the strikers on the club’s books.
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“All four strikers who’ve come in, what you have to say is they may not have contributed goals, but they must have contributed because the team is sixth in the league,” he remarked. Everyone would have taken that after 26 games at the start of the season.
“Mason came on in a difficult game and on a difficult pitch at Rotherham, and then I put Rusyn in, and he scored a really good goal, and his work ethic was really infectious.”
“I’ve tried to reenergize that area, and Mayenda and Hemir are showing promising signs in training; Hemir is a fantastic finisher.”
“Those two were most likely purchased with the future in mind.” So we’ll see what happens; we’d like to see some effort in the final third because we’ve also been without Bradley (Dack) and Paddy (Roberts) for a while. It’s a huge opportunity for guys like Adil and Abdoullah, both of whom I’d like to see go up.”
