Sunderland to battle Peterborough United and Portsmouth for £1.5m-rated Cheltenham striker

The Black Cats have made a bid of at least £1million for the in-demand striker, who is also wanted by Championship clubs.

Sunderland are in the market for at least two strikers before the transfer window closes, with Sunderland also lodging bids for Bradford City striker Charlie Wyke.

Both Posh and Pompey have had bids rejected for Eisa in the past week.

News of the bid was first revealed by Roker Report and sources close to Cheltenham have since confirmed to the Echo that they value their prize asset at the £1.5million mark.

The Echo understands Sunderland's bid is at least £1million but it is not yet clear whether that is all up front or whether it is enough to tempt Cheltenham, who are under no pressure to sell this summer.

The Sudan-born striker is contracted to Cheltenham until 2020.

Peterborough's most recent offer was worth £1million. That included clauses over a period of time, while Pompey have now tabled three separate bids but none of those were close to Cheltenham's valuation.

The striker joined the club from Greenwich Borough last summer and scored 25 times in League Two. He won the club's supporters' and players' player of the year awards.

Speaking at the weekend, Cheltenham boss Gary Johnson said: "The thing with Mo at the moment is that everybody is interested, but they are not offering his worth.

"As far as the club is concerned, as long as Mo and his representative understand, he will get there, but he is our crown jewel at the moment. He is still enjoying his game and his finishing is unbelievable.

"I know the going rate for proper goalscoring strikers. We have to keep calm and if he doesn’t go in this window then we’ll keep him, but he’s worth what we’d have to take for him.

"He’ll be worth double that when he cracks it in the Championship."

Meanwhile, Sunderland are expected to face strong competition from Bolton Wanderers for striker target Charlie Wyke.

Both clubs are in desperate need of reinforcements up front, though Bolton are yet to make a bid for the Bradford City striker.

Jack Ross has identified Wyke as one of his key targets with the Black Cats making an initial bid last week.

The first six-figure bid fell short of Bradford’s valuation. A second bid, reported to be £600,000, has been lodged with Sunderland officials waiting to hear back.

It comes as Bradford are considering giving Wyke a deadline to decide on his future.

With just a year left on his current contract, Bradford want Wyke to commit himself to a new deal, but if not, then they would be willing to sell him, at the right price.

Middlesbrough-born Wyke didn’t play in the friendly with York City at the weekend, he sat out with a knock.

Bradford head coach Michael Collins has praised Wyke’s attitude despite the ongoing uncertainty surrounding his future.

Collins told the Telegraph & Argus: “Everybody is aware of the interest. It’s quite common within the press.

“I haven’t heard anything directly from the chairman with regards to what’s happening with Charlie.

“But credit to Charlie. He has come in and applied himself exactly as I thought he would.

“I knew Charlie before I took the role on. I expected nothing different and I’ve seen nothing different. He’s been an absolute grade A professional and I expected nothing different.”

Wyke is also understood to be high on Bolton’s wanted list.

Speaking about his transfer priorities, boss Phil Parkinson said: “Everybody knows we’re a long, long way short of having a squad capable of competing at Championship level.

“We’ve got other areas we need to strengthen but the striker area is a key one. We need strength in depth.”