:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/55874005/668830218.0.jpg)
Bournemouth’s Lewis Grabban is the latest striker to be linked with a loan move to Sunderland, with footy website TEAMTalk breaking news that the 29-year-old is due on Wearside tomorrow for talks with Black Cats boss Simon Grayson.
Grabban rose through the football league with the Cherries, signing in 2012 as a 24-year-old when the south coast outfit were playing in League One.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8910245/174185339.jpg)
The Croydon-born striker had found his feet in senior football the previous season, scoring eighteen times at Rotherham after stop-start stints at Crystal Palace, Oldham, Motherwell and Millwall; and he got off to a good start with Bournemouth with thirteen goals in his first season in 2012-13 as they were promoted from League One.
Grabban then featured for the Cherries in two seasons following their jump to the Championship in 2013 and continued his decent form in front of goal before signing for Norwich for a reported £3m.
After failing to make the step up to Premier League level following the Canaries rise from the Championship in 2015, Grabban re-signed for Bournemouth in January 2016. Again the attacker failed to make much impact in the top-tier and was sent to Reading on loan at the beginning of this year.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8910259/500682062.jpg)
Grabban scored three goals in sixteen appearances for the Berkshire club in the Championship during the final half of last season and featured for the Royals in the Play-off final at Wembley. But footy reporter for the Reading Echo, Courtney Friday, reckons we probably shouldn’t get too excited:
There was lots of hype when he first came in as fans had been calling for a striker for a long time.
He looked unfit and uninterested in the beginning, he was played out of position (normally on the right) and struggled to fit in.
He began to show signs of promise towards the end of the season with good feet and good strength, not to mention the absolute corker he scored against Rotherham.
Come the play-off final, though, again he looked unfit and uninterested. I think with a full pre-season behind him and a regular run of games he could potentially score 10 + goals over the course of the season, but I certainly wouldn't expect fireworks.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/8910281/689718078.jpg)
Simon Grayson has already added some budget firepower to the Sunderland ranks with the signing of James Vaughan from Bury.
But Grabban in particular will arrive at the Stadium of Light tagged as Jermain Defoe’s replacement with the England international now signed at the Vitality Stadium and his potential heir-apparent at Sunderland now seemingly headed the other way.