Everton boss provides striker update following Leeds, Sunderland and Preston transfer links

Everton boss Sean Dyche says the club are keeping their minds open regarding Tom Cannon’s future at Goodison Park - with several Championship clubs said to be interested in the forward.

The 20-year-old impressed during a loan spell at Preston last season, where he scored eight goals in 20 Championship appearances, but has recently returned from a hamstring injury.

Preston have been keen to re-sign Cannon this summer, while Leeds, Sunderland and Stoke have also been credited with interest.

The forward was an unused substitute for Everton’s 1-0 defeat against Fulham last weekend, while he played 45 minutes during a training match against Manchester United earlier this week.

Everton are also looking to bolster their own attacking options and have submitted a £12million for Southampton’s Che Adams.

When asked about Cannon’s situation, Dyche told Liverpool World: “He’s only just got fit. He played 45 minutes the other day, so we’ll keep an eye on him and make sure he’s well.

“We’re keeping our minds open at this stage. We haven’t got a big squad as everyone knows, we haven’t got massive number of strikers, that’s quite obvious. He’s in the building for now and will view it accordingly as the window comes towards the end.”

Sunderland are still looking to strengthen their striker options in the final two weeks of the transfer window, while Black Cats boss Tony Mowbray has suggested they could turn to the loan market.

"I think at the level we’re at, and I think possibly the deals we are going to do might be loan deals,” said Mowbray.

“The conundrum there is that if you get down to the last day or two, there are probably some amazing loan deals to be done out of the Premier League. Once they’ve got those signings done, those peripheral players who will be amazing in the Championship become available and yet if you’ve spent your money because you’re trying to get your business done early, you can’t bring those players in.

"They have great seasons and you think, how have they got him?! Well, it’s because they got him on the last day of the window when they needed him to go out on loan and there weren’t loads of clubs [interested] because they’d already used up their budget.

"It’s a dangerous scenario."