The Gossip: Fresh Striker Name Linked Almost Daily

The European Championships may be rolling on in eastern Europe but that hasn't stopped a plethora of fresh names being linked with a move to Sunderland. We are endeavoring to keep track of all the players the media are claiming are destined for the Stadium of Light this summer, partly for a laugh, but mainly to just see how ridiculous the aptly-named 'silly season' really is.

So... on with the updated list and the gossip.

Steven Fletcher (Wolves)
Victor Moses (Wigan)
Stephen Ward (Wolves)
Aiden McGeady (Spartak Moscow)
Adam Johnson (Manchester City)
John Guidetti (Manchester City)
Wilifred Zaha (Crystal Palace)
Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa)
Karl Henry (Wolves)
Jay Rodriguez (Burnley)
Hassan Hissein (Foullah Edifice)
Manuel Fernandez (Besitkas)
Jorge Fucile (Porto)
Junior Hoilett (Blackburn Rovers)
Robert Huth (Stoke)
Liam Trotter (Millwall)
Mohamed Diame (Wigan)
Carlos Cuellar (Free Agent)
Steven N'Zonzi (Blackburn)
Bjorn Bergmann Sigurdarson (Lillestrom)
Grant Holt (Norwich)
Jese (Real Madrid Castilla)
Steven Pienaar (Tottenham)
Danny Guthrie (Newcastle)
Joselu (Real Madrid Castilla)
Matt Jarvis (Wolves)
Ryan Bertrand (Chelsea)
Matt Phillips (Blackpool)
Zak Whitbread (Free Agent)
Steven Warnock (Aston Villa)
Moussa Kone (Atalanta)
Ola John (FC Twente)
Pavel Pogrebnyak (Stuttgart)
Ola Toivonen (PSV)
Alvaro Vazquez (Espanyol)
Yoan Gouffran (Bordeaux)
Luis Saha (Free Agent)
Keith Andrews (Free Agent)
Abdou Kader Mangane (Rennes)
Ibrahima Balde (Osasuna)
Kevin Doyle (Wolves)
Kevin Mirallas (Olympiakos)
Burak Yilmaz (Trabzonspor)

A nice round 7 fresh names this week - a rate of one per day. That makes it a total of 43 players linked with a move to Sunderland this summer and we are not even into July yet. Frightening. Ellis will be having to dig deep for a double-decker team coach soon...

Of the new names, Burak Yilmaz is a particularly intriguing one. He is a striker who has just come off a prolific season in Turkey and is alleged to have a release clause in his contract allowing him to move on for what the club would likely consider a reasonably modest fee.It must be said, however, that it would not be an archetypal O'Neill signing.

The Luis Saha link would appear to have legs, though. You would imagine Martin O'Neill will be looking for an experienced bargain basement striker and Saha fits the bill.

Pavel Pogrebnyak on the other hand doesn't appear to be headed for Wearside. The Russian looks to have secured a bumper move to spearhead newly-promoted Reading's survival bid, whilst Robert Huth's new extension to his Stoke contract will surely see him remain at the Britannia this summer. Mohamed Diame, meanwhile, has joined West Ham United.

That's about it for another week. See you next week with the latest!