Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough are reported to be among the numerous Championship clubs vying for Everton striker Ellis Simms’s signature this summer.
As previously reported, the 22-year-old is a player the Blues are keen to bring to Portman Road as Kieran McKenna looks to strengthen his strike force ahead of Town’s return to the Championship.
But a number of other Championship clubs are also understood to be interested with Simms’s former loan club Sunderland, Bristol City and Stoke City previously having been linked.
According to the Liverpool Echo, the Black Cats, managed by former Town skipper Tony Mowbray, have held talks regarding the 6ft 3in tall frontman but fear being out-gunned by other clubs in the running, while Blackburn are among the other contenders.
Elsewhere, TeamTalk reports that Middlesbrough, whose boss is McKenna’s friend and former Manchester United colleague Michael Carrick, are another of the interested parties.
Simms, who has a year left on his deal at Goodison Park, joined Everton at 16 having spent time with Blackburn and Manchester City as a schoolboy.
The striker was loaned to Blackpool in January 2021, then a year later moved to Hearts in Scotland for the second half of the following season.
The Oldham-born striker signed for Sunderland on loan last season and made 14 starts and three sub appearances, scoring seven times, before being recalled at the turn of the year.
For his parent club, Simms has made three starts and nine sub appearances - all in the Premier League - scoring once, in March’s 2-2 draw at Chelsea.
A new number nine - or perhaps two - is likely to be well up McKenna’s summer wishlist with loanee George Hirst having returned to his parent club Leicester at the end of the season.
Elsewhere, former Town academy striker Charlie Brown, 23, has joined Morecambe on a one-year deal having left Cheltenham at the end of last season.
Brown left the Blues’ youth set-up aged 16 as he was about to start his scholarship at Playford Road to join Chelsea.