Former Blues loanee Luke Garbutt appears unlikely to join Sunderland with manager Phil Parkinson having revealed he has had to reassess his targets following the introduction of the League One salary cap.
As reported at the weekend, the Blues have little scope to add further signings - including Garbutt who enjoyed an impressive loan spell at Portman Road during 2019/20 - while staying within the £2.5 million salary cap and the same looks to be the case for the Black Cats.
Parkinson says he attempted to make additions last week prior to the salary cap being ratified by clubs, one of whom is understood to be Garbutt, a free agent following his release by Everton.
"We tried to get a couple of players in before Friday, but those deals didn’t go over the line,” Parkinson told the Northern Echo. "It was really the agents and the players’ decision on those ones.
"When you’re going for players that maybe have Championship interest as well, it can be difficult because you’re competing for those players.
"We’ve had to change tack a little bit over the last couple of days, and reassess what we’re going to do. I’m still confident we’ll have a strong squad, but one or two players who maybe we thought we could have got last week are not in the market place for us now.”
For the same reasons, the Blues appear to have moved on from their interest in bringing Garbutt back to Suffolk with former Republic of Ireland international Stephen Ward, 34, training at Playford Road.
TWTD reported earlier in the year that Championship clubs had kept tabs on Garbutt during his time at Town and it would appear the former England U21 international has one or more options at that level.
The Wearsiders were also believed to be talking to striker Danny Graham, 35 today, another free agent having left Blackburn at the end of the season.
Town are also understood to have shown interest in the veteran frontman, however, it’s thought the Gateshead-born player is keen to stay in the north.
Sunderland were also reported to have offered terms to former Burton midfielder Scott Fraser prior to the salary cap’s introduction.
Meanwhile, ex-Blues winger Darren Currie has left his role as manager of Barnet after almost 20 months in charge of the Bees.
Former Town keeper Shane Supple has been appointed head of goalkeeping at the Bohemians-St Kevin’s Boys academy in his native Dublin.
The 33-year-old resumed his playing career with the League of Ireland side in 2016 before being forced into retirement due to injury two years later.
Elsewhere, one-time Blues striker Luke Varney, 37, has rejoined Burton Albion as a player-coach having spent the last two seasons at Cheltenham.