Chris Martin’s lengthy deliberations over a potential loan move to Sunderland are causing jitters on Wearside.
The Black Cats have agreed a deal with Derby County over a loan move for the striker, but he has also attracted interest from clubs including Reading and most recently Championship leaders Wolves.
Martin was in the North East for talks with Sunderland on Friday but did not commit, and has since travelled to Dubai with his Derby teammates for a warm weather training camp.
Without naming Martin, Sunderland boss Chris Coleman admitted at the weekend that the deal still hangs in the balance, saying: “We thought that something was over the line but it is not at the minute.
“We have a deal with a club and we are waiting for an answer, if you like, a decision from a player.”
The longer that wait for an answer drags on, the greater the fear that Martin is hedging his bets and the deal could fall through.
And if Sunderland do not receive a definite decision soon they will have to look elsewhere because time is running out for them to bring in the reinforcements they desperately need to boost their chances of avoiding relegation.
They face relegation rivals Birmingham City in a crunch game at St Andrew’s in a week’s time and Coleman wants to bring in at least one striker - and ideally two - before that game, which takes place just over 24 hours before the transfer window closes.
Any new arrivals will have to be registered by noon on Monday if they are to be eligible to face the Blues.
The return of top scorer Lewis Grabban to Bournemouth after requesting that his loan spell be cut short at the beginning of the month, and the sale of flop frontman James Vaughan to Wigan, has left Sunderland without a single senior striker on their books.
And while teenage Academy graduates Josh Maja and Joel Asoro have been holding the fort, Sunderland cannot expect them to shoulder the burden of the club’s survival hopes.
If Wolves do hijack Sunderland’s move for Martin it will be the second blow the Black Country club have dealt the Wearsiders this month, with interest from Molineux in Grabban understood to have been behind his plea to return to the South Coast so that he could move on during the current window.