Sunderland may have chance to re-sign Everton man

Tom Cannon is likely to be ahead of Ellis Simms in the pecking order if both remain at Everton next season, according to Alan Nixon.

Simms has a right to feel aggrieved after being recalled by the Toffees in January because he was doing brilliantly at Sunderland and was progressing well there, even though he wasn’t always one of the first names on the teamsheet at the Stadium of Light.

What’s Ellis Simms’ role at Everton compared to Sunderland?

Somehow, the Black Cats managed to secure a place in the play-offs despite his absence and Ross Stewart’s injury.

Both could have made a real difference during the play-off semi-final games against Luton Town though and would have been extremely useful for Tony Mowbray, who was forced to persist with Joe Gelhardt regardless of his form.

Scoring seven goals in 17 league appearances for the Wearside outfit, Simms was a very effective option for them and was only prevented from making more of an impact by the injury he sustained at Reading.

At Goodison Park though, he has been an unused substitute in Sean Dyche’s side’s last four games and may find his game time limited once again next season if Cannon stays, although which league the Toffees are in next term may have a big say on the latter’s future.

But even if the likes of Cannon, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, and Neal Maupay leave, replacements are likely to be brought in and that could push Simms quite far down the pecking order.

That could provide the Black Cats with a chance to swoop for the latter, having sustained their interest in the forward during the winter after he was recalled.

Sunderland to re-sign Ellis Simms?

Considering Stewart has suffered with injury problems and may not be fully fit and firing by the start of next season and the fact Gelhardt has returned to Leeds United, they don’t just need one new striker, they need quite a few.

However, bringing in a lot of fresh faces in the forward department would be a risk because they would need time to adapt to life at the Stadium of Light.

With this, they could potentially reignite their interest in some of their former forwards, but it remains to be seen whether they could bring them back.

Gelhardt could benefit from another campaign on Wearside but there are no guarantees that Mowbray would get him considering the amount of interest there was in him back in January.

And a return for Nathan Broadhead seems unlikely after he joined Ipswich Town permanently back in January.

Re-signing Simms seems doable though. A loan deal could be ideal for all parties considering Mowbray only has a limited budget to play with this summer.