THREE promotion rivals battle for Sunderland-linked £750k Championship striker as Portsmouth make transfer breakthrough

And there’s been plenty of news surrounding the Black Cats and their League One rivals over the past couple of days.

Anton Ferdinand addressed his relationship with Steve Bruce at Sunderland when the pair worked together at the Stadium of Light.

In other news, Portsmouth manager Danny Cowley stated that ‘huge’ Sunderland will be one of the teams in the mix for promotionfrom League One this term.

Here, though, we take you through some of the key Sunderland and League One stories from around the web that you may have missed today:

Sunderland’s potential League One promotion rivals eye striker deal

Charlton Athletic have made a bid to sign Sunderland-linked Jayden Stockley from Preston North End.

That’s according to the Lancashire Evening Post – a sister title to the Sunderland Echo.

Charlton Athletic – for who Stockley played on loan in the second half of last season – are understood to have made a bid for the target man.

It’s believed that Sheffield Wednesday have also registered an interest.

Stockley joined Preston North End in January 2019 from Exeter City in a £750,000 deal, arriving as English football’s highest scorer in 2018.

However, the report states that it is Portsmouth who look further down the path to securing a deal.

That would be a move that makes sense from Stockley’s point of view.

He hails from Poole which is along the South Coast from Pompey, while he had a loan spell at Fratton Park a few years ago which gave him a feel for the club.

And fresh reports today suggest that Stockley is close to making the move to Fratton Park.

HampshireLive states that Portsmouth and Preston North End have agreed a deal to bring Stockley to Fratton Park in the summer window as Danny Cowley looks for a new striker.

The website states that a deal has been agreed between Pompey and the Lilywhites over a move for Stockley, although there is more work to be done for any possible transfer to be completed.

The fee agreed in the move is reportedly for less than half of what Preston paid Exeter for Stockley at the start of 2019.

A message from the Football Clubs Editor

Our aim is to provide you with the best, most up-to-date and most informative Sunderland AFC coverage 365 days a year.

This depth of coverage costs, so to help us maintain the high-quality reporting that you are used to, please consider taking out a subscription to our new sports-only package here.

Your support is much appreciated. Richard Mennear, Football Clubs Editor