Sunderland made a number of additions to their squad throughout the January transfer window as Kristjaan Speakman looked to improve the squad.

Trai Hume, Patrick Roberts, Jay Matete, Danny Batth, Jermain Defoe and Jack Clarke all came in, with the Black Cats attempting to bolster their side to improve their chances of jumping out of League One at the end of the season.

Whilst it is easy to focus on the players who did come in, it is also worth looking at the deals that Sunderland also missed out on.

Relief

Fans will be relieved that the Black Cats ultimately opted against a deal to sign Jonson Clarke-Harris to add to their striking options.

Earlier this month, Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony confirmed that the club were interested in signing the centre-forward in the January transfer window.

talkSPORT reporter Alex Crook claimed that the Championship outfit wanted a fee in the region of £6m for the English striker.

Speakman avoided a big transfer nightmare by refusing to pay the asking price and opting against a deal for the attacker last month. It could have been a huge mistake for the club to shell out such a fee to sign a player who has struggled for form this season, as a big-money move could have seen then replicate the unsuccessful signing of Will Grigg who joined for £4m but only bagged eight goals.

In the Championship for the Posh, he has scored five goals and provided two assists in 27 appearances. He has missed eight 'big chances' and only completed a measly 56% of his attempted passes throughout the campaign, which suggests that he has struggled both in front of goal and with his all-around play.

Therefore, he is seemingly a player lacking in confidence and may not have been able to hit the ground running at the Stadium of Light. Paying a whopping £6m transfer fee for a player who is currently failing to deliver in the Championship does not appear to be a wise move on paper and Speakman agreed.

Supporters will surely be feeling relieved that their club did not decide to splash a ludicrous amount of money on the striker. Although, it is a shame that a loan deal was not on the cards for the 27-year-old as he has shown that he has the potential to be a top-qualtiy player in League One.

He scored 31 times for Peterborough last season as he fired them to promotion and taking a gamble on him rediscovering his form on loan could have been worthwhile. However, that was not one of the options on the table for Sunderland and they were right to avoid splashing out £6m on him.

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