Sunderland manager Régis Le Bris says Blues target Jack Clarke trained with the Black Cats this morning and will be able to play in their game at home to Burnley on Saturday “at the moment”.
Town have made a £15 million offer to the Wearsiders for Clarke with add-ons believed to take the deal to £20 million.
The Championship side are currently considering the offer but for the time being Le Bris says Clarke is in his plans for the weekend.
"Jack trained this morning, which is my main concern,” Le Bris told the Sunderland Echo. "So he is able to play this weekend at the moment.
"Many of our players are targeted by the other teams because the transfer window is like this when you have talented players in the squad.
"These are the rules of the transfer window, we need to be confident and it is good news to have these players in our squad. Sometimes, they can leave, this is the rule of our job. We will see.
"He's been working with Doddsy [coach Mike Dodds] on his previous game, working on his clips and what he can improve.
"For me he is still with us. If he wasn't, he wouldn't be working with Doddsy to improve himself. We are professional, this market is unstable, something could happen in one direction or the other. We'll see.”
Town have been looking to add another left-sided attacker throughout the summer, having come close to signing Jaden Philogene from Hull City before the England U21 international ultimately opted to return to his former club Aston Villa.
The Blues are also after another centre-half with Sheffield United’s Anel Ahmedhodžić the subject of strong interest.
Should that deal get done, then Town would almost certainly look to move on one of their centre-halves with George Edmundson perhaps the most likely with long-time admirers Portsmouth again reported to be interested.