Transfer news: Sunderland 'in negotiations' with targets and have submitted £2.5m attacker bid

Sunderland face Rotherham United at the Stadium of Light on Saturday in the Championship following two league losses against Ipswich Town at home and Preston North End away.

Sunderland also crashed out of the Carabao Cup on penalties against League Two side Crewe Alexandra a week ago on Wearside.

The Black Cats are in desperate need of striking reinforcements with Luis Hemir Semedo currently the club's only out-and-out senior number nine. Head coach Tony Mowbray has also spoken about the need for another midfielder.

Here, though, we take a look at the main Sunderland headlines that you may have missed, including the latest transfer talk:

Sunderland have made a "final' bid to Zorya for striker Nazariy Rusyn. The Black Cats have reportedly submitted an offer of between €2million and €3million (£1.7million to £2.5million). Talk has also suggested that Zorya will receive a 20% sell-on clause.

In other news, Sunderland have sold 35,211 tickets as of 9:40am on Tuesday morning ahead of Rotherham United's visit to Wearside on Saturday with a large portion of that number occupied by season card holders. 37,332 seats have been made available in total to home fans so far.

Back to transfers and Sunderland are still in negotiations with several trialists who have trained and played for the club during pre-season. Under-21 boss Graeme Murty provided an update to The Echo which can be read by clicking the link above.

Former Chelsea winger Silko Thomas, 19, and 18-year-old defender Bobby Bjork, a Blackpool academy graduate, both played for the Black Cats’ under-21s side in a friendly against Huddersfield Town last week, yet weren’t involved in Monday’s 2-0 win over Norwich in Premier League 2.

Swedish midfielder Gideon Granstrom, 18, has also been on trial at Sunderland over the summer.

On the injury front, Chris Rigg was forced off after showing symptoms of concussion during Sunderland’s under-21s match against Norwich.

Rigg, 16, clashed heads with an opposition player just before half-time and was subsequently substituted at the interval.

Sunderland were a goal ahead at the time and went on to win the match 2-0, with Ellis Taylor scoring both goals in the Premier League 2 fixture.

When asked about Rigg after the game, U21s assistant coach John Hewitson told the Echo: “He had symptoms of concussion. The character he is, he’s quite a tough nut, hard character. For him to say I’m not feeling great it’s like alarms go off. He’s fine, it’s just as a precaution of looking after him because we need to.”

Rigg has been part of Sunderland’s first-team set-up during pre-season and made his first senior start during this month’s Carabao Cup match against Crewe - when he became the Black Cats’ youngest-ever goalscorer.

“At the moment he’s training with the first team on a daily basis and his game time is coming with the 21s,” added Hewitson.

“It’s like anything, if he’s accountable and does really well with the 21s he’s got to make a statement to the first-team staff. People forget that he’s only just turned 16, so he’s still a young man with lots and lots of potential.”