Sunderland have pulled out of a deal which would have seen Tony Gallacher move to the Stadium of Light this summer.

What's the talk?

That's according to a report by the Daily Mail, who claimed that, after agreeing terms with Liverpool for the transfer of the left-back, Lee Johnson's side pulled out of the deal at the 11th hour, with the defender now assessing other options in the market.

The report added that Jurgen Klopp's side were prepared to cut short the 22-year-old's contract in order for him to move to the League One club as a free agent, although the Reds would have had a sell-on clause in his contract.

However, with the deal now appearing dead in the water, Johnson will need to turn his attention elsewhere in the market if he is to bring in a new left-back ahead of the new season.

Silver lining

With Johnson having previously seemed very keen to bring in a new left-back this summer, most likely down to the fact that Denver Hume has still not put pen to paper on a new deal following the expiry of his contract at the end of June, the news that Sunderland have pulled out of the Gallacher transfer could provide a hint on the situation of the out-of-contract Mackems defender.

Indeed, Johnson had previously claimed that "it's Denver or another" regarding who the club will sign at left-back this summer. Therefore, if Kyril Louis-Dreyfus feels he no longer requires the services of the £360k-rated Gallacher, Hume may well have informed the club that he intends to sign a new deal in the coming days.

This would very much be a silver lining to the Gallacher news for Sunderland fans, as the 22-year-old was one of the club's more reliable players last season, averaging a SofaScore match rating of 6.94 over his 24 League One appearances, ranking him as Johnson's 11th-best performer in the division.

As such, while missing out on a new signing may be disappointing for fans, the regret shouldn't last long at all if it means that Hume has agreed to extend his stay at the Stadium of Light, .

In other news: KLD dealt another transfer blow over £540k-rated "threat", he'd be a big miss for SAFC