Tony Mowbray says Sunderland will only sign a free agent if he fits into the culture of the club - insisting it could go 'disastrously wrong' if they are panicked into bringing in a replacement for Ross Stewart without having done their homework. The Black Cats have been rocked by the loss of Stewart to injury, with the man whose 26 goals powered their promotion last season, and who has already scored five times in seven games in the Championship, pulling out of Monday's game at Middlesbrough at short notice after suffering a thigh injury in the warm-up.
The Scotland international has since had a scan on the injury, and he is expected to be out for between six and eight weeks. That has left on-loan Everton man Ellis Simms as Sunderland's only fit specialist senior centre-forward, leaving head coach Mowbray to decide whether to play someone out of position up front alongside Simms, or change system.
With the transfer window having closed last week without another striker arriving on Wearside, Sunderland are now scouring the list of available free agents but Mowbray says the club must take great care before signing someone outside the window. "Only if it's the right player," he said, when asked if that was a route the club might go down.
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"The right player in my mind, the right player in the mind of the recruitment departmement, the right player in Kristjaan's [Speakman, Sunderland's sporting director] mind, the right player in the owner's mind. Players who are out of contract ... where do you want to go? What level?
"You have to fit into the culture of the club, and sometimes if you bring in a player they don't fit into the culture of the club. When you've done all your work on them and signed them in a transfer window, you generally know that they will come in and fit into your culture, they know the parameters of what is expected, and you have had those conversations with them.
"If you just draft in a free transfer who you hadn't even looked at - they hadn't been on your radar - just because he plays up front, and you haven't done your homework on him, you could get it disastrously wrong."
If Sunderland decide against bringing in a free agent, Mowbray could use attacking players such as Patrick Roberts, Jack Clarke, and Leon Dajaku, along with new signings Amad Diallo and Jewison Bennette, to support Simms at different times. Mowbray said: "What is wise at the moment is to give the team the opportunity to show that we can be a good team with or without [Ross].
"We've signed new, young, players and they need the opportunity to come in and impact the team. I think they can, but let's wait and see.
"They are a week or two away, in my mind, from coming in and lighting everything up, really."
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