Blackburn Rovers 'ready to move' for Jon McLaughlin, Peterborough turn down big money offer for ex-Newcastle striker

That is despite boss Tony Mowbray last week indicating that budget uncertainty meant they weren’t currently in a position to commit to any longer contracts for current players or new signings until the end of the Championship season later this month.

Sunderland remain hopeful they will be able to convince the Scotland international to extend his two-year stay on Wearside, the Black Cats having offered him new terms along with Chris Maguire and Tom Flanagan.

But there is growing uncertainty and a fear that McLaughlin will be moving on this summer following a successful spell at Sunderland.

With Christian Walton set to return to his parent club Brighton at the end of the season, McLaughlin has long-been linked with a move to Rovers, with sources in the North West stating the interest dates back to January.

The Daily Mail claim Rovers are now ‘drawing up an offer’ for McLaughlin to consider.

Last week, Mowbray had this to say on budget uncertainty at Blackburn: “If I don’t know how much money I’m spending I can’t be throwing it at people

“Who’s to say there’s not going to be salary caps brought in, or the budget isn’t going to be cut considerably because the businesses in India aren’t functioning as well as they might have been.

“I sit here at this moment, I can’t offer people anything while we don’t have budgets and don’t know how much we have to spend because that’s how you have to work.

“Let’s get to the end of the season, everyone together as we’ve always done, and see where this season takes us.”

Meanwhile, Peterborough United have turned down a £4million bid for ex-Newcastle United striker Ivan Toney from leading United States club New York Red Bulls.

A report by our sister title the Peterborough Telegraph said: “The Major League Soccer outfit offered the sizeable fee plus numerous add-ons for Toney, but it was turned down flat by Posh who expect more than double that amount for their 24 year-old star man.”