Habib Diarra is the reportedly the subject of transfer interest from Sunderland

Sunderland are “looking at” Senegal international midfielder Habib Diarra ahead of a potential summer swoop, according to reports.

The Strasbourg captain was on the score sheet as his country beat England at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground on Tuesday evening, and has enjoyed a successful season in Ligue 1, scoring four goals and assisting five more across 30 top flight outings.

Those performances in France have supposedly been enough to alert Sunderland to his quality, with the Black Cats said to be one of several Premier League sides monitoring his situation this summer.

What has been said about Sunderland’s reported interest in Habib Diarra?

According to a report from online outlet TBR Football, Sunderland are one of a number of English teams keeping tabs on Diarra, with Leeds United, Fulham, and Bournemouth also understood to be in the picture.

At the present moment in time, however, it would appear that Leeds are pushing hardest to lure the 21-year-old to the Premier League, with transfer insider Graeme Bailey suggesting that talks have already taken place between representatives from the Yorkshire club and the player’s camp.

He said: “Leeds are looking at him. They like him and have enquired and held talks with his camp – however, we can confirm no bid yet. He had a very good season and a number of Premier League clubs have looked at him. Sunderland, Fulham, Bournemouth – all have done work on him… They are all clearly watching him too.”

Which other midfielders have Sunderland been linked with this summer?

Alongside Diarra, Sunderland have also been touted for a reunion with former academy graduate Jordan Henderson. Addressing the prospect of the England international returning to Wearside during a recent episode of The Roar podcast, The Echo’s chief SAFC writer, Phil Smith, said: “I think Sunderland need a bit of Premier League experience, I think that's definitely one thing. I don't have a problem with them sticking to the model that they've implemented over the last few years, but even when you think of the team that did well in the first season of the Championship, it had Danny Batth, Alex Pritchard - it had that little smattering of players who knew the level, and so I think that's going to be important again going into the Premier League.

“I think it is important that you add some more leadership in that dressing room because it's potentially going to be tricky next season at times, there are going to be moments where it might feel really, really difficult, where you might be on a really poor run. Players who can handle that and know how to drag other players with them are going to be really important.

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“Really hard for me to make a comment on what level Henderson is at at the moment, because as much as I would love to, I don't watch much Eredivisie, so I'm not really sure where his game's at. If it's the Henderson that we watched, you know, over years gone by, then of course he would add a massive amount to the midfield.

“I get the impression that it's something that would be welcomed by the vast majority of Sunderland fans, from the initial feedback I can see. As we talked about going into the January window on this podcast, it's not quite the home run that it once would have been, in terms of the mood, because of that very controversial move to Saudi Arabia, which we talked about at length at the time. So it's probably not quite the home run that it once would have been, but I certainly think he would add a lot on the pitch and in the dressing room - I don't think there's any doubt about that.”

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