Sunderland have made plenty of successful transfers into the Stadium of Light on loan in recent years, especially with the struggles the club have faced that have seen their stature drop dramatically.
As such, they have looked to some of the giants of English football at times to bail them out of an injury crisis, or to offload a top young talent to allow them to grow further.
This season it was at first Everton, who handed them Ellis Simms for half the season before brutally recalling him back, and then Leeds United would offload Joe Gelhardt as his replacement.
Will Sunderland re-sign Simms?
But this has been happening as far back as 2008 when they took Djibril Cisse on loan from Liverpool after he had struggled to acclimatise to life at Anfield.
Under Roy Keane, and later Ricky Sbragia, the Black Cats narrowly avoided the drop that year but leaned heavily on the goals of their temporary marksman. Bagging ten times and assisting two more in 35 games, he became an instrumental cog in their side despite opting against signing him permanently after the season.
Whilst it seemed Simms was poised to have a similar impact on this team over a decade later, his exit was abrupt and has left Tony Mowbray floundering.
With Ross Stewart having suffered yet another injury setback, their need for reinforcements has only grown.
Perhaps, given Frank Lampard’s sacking and the links suggesting the Toffees will now sign a new striker, Kristjaan Speakman can work his magic to re-sign the 22-year-old, an idea that has been touted since his initial departure.
Mowbray had admitted their interest in taking the forward back, as he spoke in a press conference after his side drew with Fulham in the FA Cup. He claimed: “Ellis Simms, if he comes back will be huge for this football club, because he gives us a focal point at the front end of the pitch.
“He scored some massively important goals before he was recalled to Everton. There’s a few days to go. I’m assuming Sean (Dyche) is now in with his feet under the desk.
“Whether they make a quick decision on Ellis Simms, I don’t know. Whether they bring another striker in and Ellis is allowed to come back, it would be pretty appropriate for our team to give us a focal point and score goals.”
Simms had scored seven times in 17 appearances, notching two assists, but since returning to Goodison Park had managed just 15 minutes of action.
It seems a shame that such a “clinical finisher“, as dubbed by journalist Chris Smith, should waste away on the bench when he was enjoying such a fruitful spell out on loan.
As such, it would surely make great sense to allow him to return to Wearside and hopefully surpass the exploits of Cisse all those years ago.
