Michael Beale picked up his second win as Sunderland manager last weekend, but one of the goalscorers on the day was even more overjoyed than the new Black Cats boss come full-time.
Nazariy Rusyn finally broke his goalscoring duck for the second-tier side, taking the Ukrainian summer recruit ten whole games to eventually find the back of the net at the expense of Preston North End on Saturday.
Yet, despite the previously goal-shy striker getting up and running now in a Black Cats strip, Beale could well still be in the market for a striker this month to significantly bolster the attack at the Stadium of Light.
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Sky Sports reporter Keith Downie stated late last month on social media that Sunderland were interested in bringing Jay Stansfield to Wearside, despite the former Exeter City forward still being contracted to Birmingham City on loan away from parent club Fulham.
Sunderland aren't the only club thinking of swooping in for the current Blues sharpshooter though, with Football Insider revealing at the end of December that Championship automatic promotion candidates Ipswich Town had already held preliminary talks with the 21-year-old over a January move.
Excelling with the Grecians in League One and finding it rather easy to find the back of the net in the lower depths of the Championship with Birmingham, Sunderland could well be the natural next destination for Stansfield to test himself at a club vying for promotion to the Premier League.
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The Black Cats will hope the added boost of being a talismanic figure up top on arrival would sway the young attacker to join Beale's side over Kieran McKenna's Tractor Boys, Rusyn dropping out of the side completely if this deal came to fruition for Stansfield to strut his stuff.
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Stansfield has been a rare silver lining for the downtrodden Blues so far this season, the only slight positive from Wayne Rooney's doomed reign as manager.
Scoring seven times this season – six more than Rusyn has managed – Stansfield has an assuredness and swagger present in his game that would perfectly complement the likes of Jack Clarke and Alex Pritchard and their exuberant creativity.
Those seven goals have come from just 15 shots on target according to FBRef, the 21-year-old maturing into a clinical sharpshooter that Sunderland are in desperate need of.
Stansfield's instant impact at St Andrew's saw Football League World fan pundit Mike Gibbs describe the striker as 'absolutely incredible' earlier this season, the young striker a major fan favourite from the get-go at a downbeat Birmingham.
Stansfield could well fill the void left behind by Ross Stewart as a result, a gap Rusyn has found hard to fill in stark contrast – the apprehensive summer signing only managing ten shots in total this season, with just two going down as on-target efforts.
The current Birmingham man could well be the missing piece of the puzzle for Sunderland in their hunt for promotion, Stansfield a relentless bundle of energy in attack that has been sorely lacking this campaign – rolling his sleeves up when required with 1.41 tackles per 90 minutes over the last year, the 21-year-old not just an out-and-out goalscorer.
With Beale speaking of the possibility that Mason Burstow could be allowed to return to Chelsea after a poor loan spell to date recently, and Rusyn not guaranteed yet to score goals regularly, signing Stansfield – the scorer of 16 EFL goals to date – could be a huge plus for Sunderland when they need a potent striker to step up to the mark in the crunch months to come.
