Sunderland may have regretted not spending more money on one “unbelievable” striker in the previous summer.
Since Ross Stewart’s injury more than a year ago, Sunderland has yet to bolster their roster with a reliable Championship goal scorer.
On transfer deadline day, the Scot left for a hefty £10 million price tag, and the Black Cats were anticipated to replace the vacancy with that money. However, they signed Mason Burstow, Nazariy Rusyn, Eliezer Mayenda, and Luis Hemir Semedo instead.
Despite the club’s desire to develop young players and their track record with players like Dan Ballard and Jack Clarke, the acquisition of four forwards who had never played a minute of English football hasn’t exactly been successful.
Without a reliable striker, Sunderland has gone through two transfer windows. They have been connected to a number of attackers, including Kieffer Moore and Tom Cannon, but they have not been able to sign any of them.
Ellis Simms, a former target, is one player who is establishing himself in the Premier League. He scored two goals against Wolves yesterday to help Coventry City advance to the FA Cup semifinals.
The “unbelievable” striker played for Sunderland on loan during the first part of the 2022–2023 season, contributing nine goals in 17 Championship games, six of which came in his last eight games before Everton called him back.
The Black Cats were keen to sign Simms permanently in the summer, but they had to withdraw from the race since they couldn’t afford his £8 million price tag due to fierce competition.
Sunderland finds it difficult to accept his recent success for Coventry, even though it seemed incredibly costly at the time.
After struggling to make an impact in his first 25 appearances with the Sky Blues, Simms has bounced back, contributing 15 goals in his past 18 outings across all competitions.
In their 5-0 victory over Maidstone United last month, the 23-year-old scored his first hat-trick. A week later, he scored another one against Rotherham United.
Simms boosted his scoring total to a new level yesterday by scoring twice in a thrilling 3-2 victory at Molineux Stadium, after scoring six goals in his previous four outings.
After his outstanding performance, Simms received a perfect score of 10 from CoventryLive, helping Mark Robins’ team advance to Wembley Stadium.
Was Ellis Simms of Everton a player Sunderland should have signed?
His play has also helped Coventry move up the Championship table, where they are currently eight points ahead of Sunderland and just four points out of the playoffs.
Simms’ services came at a steep cost from Everton, although the Black Cats could have paid for them once Stewart was acquired.
It’s not that the team shouldn’t have spent the money to get him back to the Stadium of Light, but it is really annoying to watch a player make such an impact and yet we can’t consistently reach the back of the net.
Similar to Kieffer Moore, who has six goals in ten games, this choice also speaks poorly of Kristjaan Speakman and Kyril-Louis Dreyfus.