Sunderland are “definitely” considering signing the “excellent” Championship striker

Sunderland now they are “definitely” looking at signing an “excellent” forward who plays in the Priorityaccording to journalist Michael Graham.

Black cats are still chasing Matija Frigan

At the Stadium of Light, the search for a new striker, Westerloov, is still ongoing Matija Frigan is emerging as the main target in recent days, after they reached an agreement on personal terms at the end of last week.

Initially, the plan was for Frigan to join on loan until the end of the season, with a mandatory fee of £13m to be paid only if the Black Cats achieve their ambition of promotion to the Premier League.

A more recent update suggests that Westerlo is ready to sanction the Croat’s departure this month, but the terms of the deal are still being discussed, with the Belgian side keen to receive around half of the £13m fee even if Regis Le Bris‘ sides fail to go up.

If Sunderland are unwilling to agree to such a deal, they may have to move on to other targets and reporters Michael Graham has now suggested they could make a move for the Championship striker.

Speaking on Xu, Graham said: “I’ve been told Preston striker Emil Riis is definitely one of the strikers at Sunderland. How serious at this stage I don’t know.”

The Black Cats are yet to make an official move for Riis, but Graham’s update shows the striker is definitely a concrete target this month, so it will be interesting to see how the move develops over the next week.

Riis impresses in the championship

One of the main concerns surrounding the signing of Frigan is the fact that the 21-year-old has not proven himself outside of Belgium and there is no guarantee that he can make an immediate impact at the Stadium of Light.

Riis, on the other hand, has been a key player for Preston North End in the Championship for several years now, and has picked up the most 16 goals and five assists in 44 games in the 2021-22 season.

The Dane’s goalscoring return for Preston has been solid but not spectacular, having netted seven times this season, but he could be on the scoresheet more regularly if he moves to the promotion-chasing club.

After being hailed as “excellent” former manager Ryan Lowe, there are signs the 26-year-old could make a big difference to Sunderland in their promotion push, so they should step up their interest by making an inquiry soon.

The Preston forward’s experience in the second division makes him better than Frigan, who has barely been successful in front of goal in the Belgian Pro League this season, finding the net six goals in 21 games.