Sunderland ‘fail’ to land striker on transfer deadline day as ex-Black Cats star joins League Two club

After a long and turbulent January transfer window, the deadline has finally passed at the Stadium of Light. Despite a slow start, Sunderland have enjoyed an exciting final couple of weeks and have welcomed four new faces to the club.

French duo Pierre Ekwah and Isaac Lihadji join from West Ham and Lille respectively as they look to replace the injured Corry Evans and loaned-out Leon Dajaku. The club then continued with their familiar stance of looking to Premier League youngsters and snapped up Leeds United’s Joe Gelhardt on loan before bringing in Joe Anderson from Everton on a permanent deal yesterday.

Here are the latest headlines from Wearside...

No Ross Stewart replacement?

Despite Sunderland fans enjoying a largely successful transfer window up until deadline day, they have been left disappointed as the club failed to bring in a second striker following Gelhardt’s arrival.

The need for a new forward was made more clear when it was confirmed that Ross Stewart would be sidelined for the rest of the season, leaving the Leeds United starlet as their only option up top. To make matters worse, Gelhardt is unable to feature in the FA Cup and so Tony Mowbray will be forced to start one of the likes of Jack Clarke or Amad Diallo in a false nine.

The Black Cats were heavily linked with a move for Ellis Simms, however rumours had quietened down in the latter stages of deadline day and it looked increasingly less likely when Everton failed to bring in a striker of their own. While supporters have been left very frustrated by the lack of action yesterday, the club can still delve into the free agent market to bolster their attack. Former Sunderland forwards Connor Wickham and Kyle Lafferty are just some of the names currently without a club that could be available to snap up in the coming weeks.

O’Brien joins Gills

Former Sunderland attacker Aiden O’Brien has joined Gillingham on loan - a year after he left the Stadium of Light.

The 29-year-old made 66 appearances for the Wearside outfit before making the move south to Portsmouth in last season’s January transfer window. O’Brien became a favourite at Fratton Park as he netted five goals in the second half of the campaign, however he was offloaded in the summer to Shrewsbury Town and has failed to start a single game in League One.

The Gills will be hopeful that O’Brien can help them avoid relegation as they sit 23rd in League Two. This season is the first time the Republic of Ireland international has played in the fourth tier of English football after spending much of his career in the Championship with Millwall.