Clarke’s move to Wigan may open door for Sunderland to finally land Grigg

Add as preferred source on Google

Sunderland have had a fifth bid for Wigan Athletic’s Northern Ireland international striker Will Grigg rejected, according to Sky Sports.

They report that Paul Cook has confirmed there have been four bids already from the Stadium of Light and that the fifth is worth £1.25m plus add-ons.

But while the Latics do not want to sell Grigg, they are braced for further interest. Cook said: “Sunderland have made four bids for Will, but the fact we’ve rebuffed four bids, you can clearly see our intent is not to sell players. Everybody is expecting them to come back, but we want to strengthen and keep our better players.”

But Wigan have made a striker purchase of their own of late, with Sheffield United striker Leon Clarke joining them on loan until the end of the season.

And the arrival of Clarke could be seen as a pre-emptive attempt to replace Grigg, or at least that’s what Sunderland must hope if they are to get Grigg over the line.

Grigg is a proven hitman at League One level and following the departure of Josh Maja, getting that firepower through the door before the deadline could make all the difference in the race for promotion.