Sunderland have not been shy when it comes to striking deals to sign players from Premier League clubs over recent years.

The Black Cats have brought in the likes of Callum Doyle, Jack Clarke, Ellis Simms, Daniel Ballard and Dennis Cirkin either on permanent or loan deals.

Another player the Wearside club recently snapped up from one of England's top clubs is Patrick Roberts.

After completing numerous loan spells away from the Manchester club, the winger joined Sunderland on a free transfer back in the previous January transfer window. With 20 appearances for his new club, the Englishman has two goals and one assist to his name.

Now that the end of the current summer transfer window is approaching, this period could give the club the chance to bring in what would be their next version of Roberts in a bid to further strengthen Alex Neil's squad.

Earlier this week, it was claimed by Jonathan Shrager on Twitter that Sunderland are one of the clubs interested in signing Manchester United winger Amad Diallo on loan.

Having made 125 club appearances to his name at senior and youth levels, the Ivorian has 48 goals and 29 assists under his belt, highlighting his attacking talent.

During his loan spell with Rangers throughout the second half of last season, the 20-year-old managed to find the net three times in 13 appearances during a mixed period in Glasgow.

However, lauded as an "unbelievable" player by former United player Dan James, Diallo could be a very exciting addition to Sunderland's squad if he follows in Roberts' footsteps by leaving a Manchester club that have ostracised his talents.

Having shown how capable he is of playing across numerous attacking positions throughout his career, it demonstrated a clear layer of similarity between Diallo and Roberts, who has also proved his versatility across the front line.

With the former City figure ending the previous campaign with a higher average for dribbles per game (1.7) than any other Sunderland player, this mirrors the attacking prowess the United youngster has as only three other players at Rangers had a higher average than him for the same statistic (1.0).

With Neil sharing his aims to add more players to his squad before the transfer window closes, the Black Cats should put themselves at the front of the queue to sign the United starlet as he could just end up being Roberts 2.0 in Wearside.