Comment: Forest striker Sam Surridge linked with Sunderland loan move - should we snap him up?

Given where we find ourselves currently in the Championship table and the fact we have so many injuries, it’s to be expected that Sunderland are going to be linked with lots of players this month in the media.

That said, the first legitimate-sounding striker link in the new year came this evening from Sky Sports News reporter Keith Downie, who tweeted that SAFC fancy a little bit of Ex-Bournemouth and current Nottingham Forest striker Sam Surridge.

Everyone knows all about Nottingham Forest’s summer recruitment and having signed 9840945860956845560 players after their promotion to the top flight, it has left them needing to trim some fat in order to strengthen their squad again.

Surridge - who has played for eight different clubs in his short career so far - is just 24 year old and has recent experience of playing in the Championship, having played an integral part in Forest’s run to the Premier League last season.

Having started his career with Bournemouth, he was farmed out on loan a bunch of times before making his Premier League debut against Chelsea in 2019. He spent time in the Championship with Swansea City before becoming a first team regular with the Cherries following their relegation in 2020, and then was sold to Stoke City the following summer. He spent just six months there before Forest signed him on January deadline day last year, and he played an important role in their promotion having scored seven goals in 17 Championship appearances.

He’s played 13 times this season for Forest, scoring twice, but has been deemed surplus to requirements - something that will have alerted plenty of clubs in the Championship who are looking for cost-effective additions that can strengthen their attacking options.

What of it, then? Is he the right type of player for what we need?

In terms of age he certainly fits the profile. He’s still young but also has a lot of experience, and crucially, has experience of promotion from this level having found success with Forest last season as I’ve already mentioned.

He’s a big lad too, which is handy as losing Simms has hurt our limited pool of six-foot-plussers. We need players who can help us out in both boxes, and Surridge certainly has height on his side.

But, it can’t be ignored that his scoring record doesn’t jump off the page - though, the Forest fan I just spoke to told me to ignore that because “he’s quality”. I’ll take his word for it.

We need different options up top and given we’re probably looking in the loan market to replace Ellis Simms, a strong domestic loan signing makes a lot of sense. I have faith that Stuart Harvey and Kristjaan Speakman will have thought long and hard about strikers ever since Ross Stewart got injured earlier in the season, so whether it’s Surridge or someone else I’m backing them to bring someone in with the right quality.