Sunderland sporting director Kristjaan Speakman must seal a deal to sign St Johnstone defender Scott Tanser amid interest from League One rivals.

What's the talk?

According to the Sunderland Echo, St Johnstone defender left-back Tanser is one of the players on the club's radar heading into the summer transfer window. The report claims that Sunderland are eager to add to their depth at left-back and that they have already offered a new contract to Denver Hume, who is the only senior left-back at the club.

Three of their League One rivals are also interested in the fullback. According to Football Insider, Doncaster, Sheffield Wednesday and Shrewsbury are all keen on a deal for Tanser. He is out of contract at the end of the month and appears set to depart from the Scottish club on a free transfer, allowing Sunderland and the other interested parties to swoop in without negotiating with St Johnstone.

Callum Davidson called Tanser “tremendous” and the St Johnstone boss lauded the defender's attitude earlier this season. He told FourFourTwo:

“Scott Tanser, who I thought was tremendous, again could be disappointed (to be left out at Hampden) but what an attitude he showed.”

Sunderland fans would love it

Sunderland fans would love it if the club are able to bring Tanser in this summer. Speakman has already decided to release Callum McFadzean at the end of the month, with the left-back having not been offered a contract extension at the Stadium of Light. McFadzean started 20 of Sunderland's games in League One at left-back and his exit opens the door for a fullback to come in and take his place.

Tanser would be exactly that; a quality recruit. The 27-year-old enjoyed an impressive season with St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership and proved his talent as a defender. He averaged an excellent WhoScored rating of 7.08 in 17 starts as a left wing-back for St Johnstone, whilst McFadzean averaged a dismal WhoScored rating of 6.61 in 20 starts as a left-back.

This suggests that Tanser would be a sizeable upgrade on McFadzean and Speakman could be playing a blinder by allowing the latter to leave on a free and replacing him with the former for nothing.

The £800-per-week beast could come in and compete with Hume for a starting spot, should Hume decide to accept the club's attempts to pin him down to a new deal. Hume averaged a WhoScored rating of 7.03 in 13 starts as a left wing-back for Sunderland, which shows that he is considerably closer to Tanser in terms of quality than McFadzean. This could allow Hume and Tanser to battle it out for the jersey and potentially push each other on to improve, creating competition for places in Lee Johnson's squad.

And in other news; Sunderland are lining up a deal for this ace...