A League One manager has dropped an update on the future of one ‘important’ Sunderland transfer target.
Sunderland are yet to appoint their new first-team coach, but continue to be linked with several attacking reinforcements.
With Jack Clarke still likely to leave this summer, the Black Cats are in desperate need of an overhaul and have recently been keeping an eye on one winger with 15 goal contributions this season.
Reports last month claimed that Sunderland had sent scouts to watch Oxford United’s Josh Murphy, as they beat Peterborough United 5-0.
The 29-year-old has struggled to impress since leaving Norwich six years ago, while he failed to score a single goal in his first season in Oxford.
However, Murphy has come alive in the second half of the 2023/24 campaign, having netted six goals and provided three assists in the final 15 matches of the season.
The forward’s form helped The U’s reach the League One play-off final, and it was Murphy that led them to the Championship after bagging a brace at Wembley yesterday.
Murphy’s contract is set to expire this summer and he has attracted interest from the likes of Southampton, West Brom and Hull City.
However, the attacker was a lot more likely to leave The Kassam Stadium if Oxford failed to win promotion.
Josh Murphy is ‘very settled’ at Oxford United
Oxford manager Des Buckingham has now issued an update on Murphy’s future following his play-off heroics.
Speaking to Oxford Mail, the coach said: “He just seems very settled, very happy, and he’s very clear with what he’s doing, and more importantly, he seems to be enjoying his football, which I’m delighted to see him doing because I know he’s had a pretty rough ride of it here over the past 18 months before I got here, through injuries and other things.
“He’s a good person, and a great player, which he’s really starting to demonstrate right now, and he’s a very important part of what we want to do.”
A play-off brace doesn’t make him an exciting signing
Josh Murphy’s goalscoring form over the last few months has unsurprisingly attracted interest, while his performance in this weekend’s finale is likely to have earned him even more.
There is no problem with Sunderland looking to the lower leagues for their talent, but to look to a 29-year-old who has looked particularly uninspiring for years now would be rather underwhelming.
Murphy has 24 goals in 199 appearances in the Championship, with only two of those coming in his last two seasons in the second tier.
He is really impressed in League One and could be a solid player for a team towards the bottom of the Championship, but that is not where Sunderland want to be.