'There’s a few quid being spent' - Lincoln City boss has this message for Sunderland, Portsmouth, Ipswich and Sheffield Wednesday

Sunderland are yet to sign anyone this summer but their rivals have been busy in the market, with Ipswich and Wigan among those to quickly begin to rebuild their squads ahead of what promises to be another intensely competitive division.

Appleton told Lincolnshire Live: ‘It (the amount of spending) does surprise me because the impression I get and what I’m hearing is that not a lot of money is being spent at Championship level at the minute.

‘But, for some crazy reason, all of sudden in League One there’s a few quid being spent.

‘There are a lot of big clubs in the league, the likes of Sunderland, Charlton, Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich Portsmouth, Oxford, to a degree, and Rotherham, coming up and down as they do.

‘There are a lot of clubs who are really going for it and see this season as their year.’

Meanwhile, Sunderland are among a host of clubs credited with an interest in Wigan Athletic winger Viv Solomon-Otabor.

Charlton Athletic, Blackpool, Blackburn Rovers and Portsmouth have also been linked with the wideman who is set to be out of contract this summer.

The 25-year-old’s deal with Wigan expires at the end of this month.

The ex-Birmingham City youth Solomon-Otabor made 31 appearances, scoring twice, for Wigan last season.

Meanwhile, George Dobson looks set to leave Sunderland on a permanent basis.

AFC Wimbledon head coach Mark Robinson has revealed that his club have made an offer to try and sign the 23-year-old after a successful loan spell, but believes that they will be outbid by another club.

Dobson made 24 appearances at Wimbledon last season, a key part of their revival as they escaped relegation from the third tier.

That looks to have attracted other suitors for the midfielder, who Sunderland are willing to let go as they restructure their squad.

The Sunderland squad returns to training later this month ahead of their first pre-season friendly against Spennymoor Town on July 3.

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