Sunderland know from experience that, without a reliable centre-forward, a season can quickly turn into a struggle. With Ross Stewart sold and the Black Cats’ existing forwards struggling to fill his boots, Sunderland slumped to a 16th place finish in the 2023/24 Championship campaign. Only seven teams, meanwhile, scored fewer than their 52 goals in England’s second tier. That goes some way to explaining why the Wearsiders tried to so hard to bring Alexandre Mendy across the Channel before August’s transfer deadline. Sunderland reportedly failed with an offer in the region of £2.5 million for …