da betcris： Sunderland have rightly been praised for the way they have gone about their transfer business so far this summer, but they potentially risk making their first howler in their ongoing pursuit of Croatian forward Matija Frigan.
What players have Sunderland signed?
da poker： The Black Cats have so far signed Nectarios Triantis, Luis 'Hemir' Semedo, Jenson Seelt and Jobe Bellingham, with each of those aged 20 or under as the Wearside outfit look towards the future.
However, manager Tony Mowbray has made no secret of his desire to bring in another attacking player after seeing Amad Diallo return to parent club Manchester United, whilst Ross Stewart will miss the start of the new season through injury.
Having missed out on a deal for Coventry-bound Ellis Simms, who impressed on loan at the Stadium of Light in the first half of last season, Sunderland have since switched their focus elsewhere.
According to Croatian outlet Sportske Novosti, the Championship outfit have already had a first bid of £3.4m turned down for Frigan, but they may now return with a follow-up offer.
However, given the possible size of the fee involved, plus the fact that 6 foot 1 forward is untested outside of his homeland, it would surely make sense for Mowbray's men to look elsewhere.
Who is Croatian forward Matija Frigan?
Frigan has made 42 appearances in the Croatian top flight – 27 of those with current club Rijeka and the rest during a spell on loan at Hrvatski Dragovoljac in the 2021/22 campaign.
The 20-year-old frontman scored 13 goals in those 27 outings last season, with that a more-than-adequate return for a player of his age and highlighting that he is undoubtedly a big talent.
However, Football Insider previously reported that it will take an offer of £5.2m to persuade Rijeka – who is also supposedly wanted by Rangers – to cash in, which is a huge sum as far as Sunderland are concerned.
Indeed, it was previously suggested that Sunderland were out of the running to sign Simms from Everton after Ipswich Town tabled a £4m bid earlier in the window.
The Englishman later joined Coventry City in a deal that could climb to £8m.
Frigan would have to be ready to hit the ground for that sort of fee and, while he has scored fairly regularly in the Croatian top flight, that country is ranked behind the likes of Sweden, Israel, Norway and Ukraine in terms of coefficient, giving a clear indication as to the quality of the league.
That is not to say there are no gems out there waiting to be signed at the right price, particularly given the likes of Josko Gvardiol and Luka Sucic have prospered in Europe, but Frigan still only scored at a rate of 0.59 goals per 90 minutes last season, as per FBref.
To give that some perspective, Stewart scored at a rate of 0.86 goals per 90 for Sunderland in the Championship.
Whilst the Croatia U21 international is clearly a talent – a "very interesting" one in the view of football talent scout Jacek Kulig – Sunderland would be better suited to spending their money on a more tried and tested option this window as they look to improve on last season's sixth-place finish.