Reports: Italian Striker Move Close To Completion

All the buzz at the moment seems to be that Fabio Borini will become a Sunderland player, albeit a temporary one, in the next 24 hours.

The Italian international is set to complete a season-long loan move to Sunderland from Liverpool in a bid to get playing time having had an injury-blighted spell on Merseyside thus far.

Having made a name for himself at Swansea City where he scored six goals in nine appearances on loan from Chelsea, the youngster eventually moved to Roma via Parma.

I Crociati secured his rights from Chelsea in 2011 before eventually having them bought out by Roma where he also played on loan prior to a £7m move.

Having had a good spell and been a regular for Roma he made his way to Liverpool to once again link up with Brendan Rodgers, who coached him at Swansea and at youth level with Chelsea, for a fee close to £10m.

His first season wasn't all that great with just two goals in twenty appearances, however he was often injured.

So what does it mean for us? Well first of all if he does sign as expected, we won't be getting any more loans from Premier League clubs, so we can immediately rule out the Alex Buttner link which was made recently.

It also should be said that while it's likely Stephane Sessegnon will depart sooner rather than later, this isn't really a like-for-like swap. Borini is more likely to be able to come in and do a job for us out wide and will but in a bit more a shift for the side where as Sessegnon only really provided it when he felt like it, albeit more spectacularly than Borini could ever dream.

It continues the fact we're moving more and more towards a defined and relatively rigid system which clearly Sessegnon doesn't fit into.

Borini will come in and provide an immediate upgrade over the thus-far ineffectual Ji Dong-Won and Connor Wickham, and provide competition for Steven Fletcher and Jozy Altidore.

It's still very much unconfirmed at this stage, however the move is thought to be very close to completion.