Sunderland are set to tie up a deal for Callum Styles from Barnsley, according to Keith Downie of Sky Sports News.
Callum Styles is now in advanced talks with Sunderland, with the move expected to be a loan with an option to buy in the summer. The Black Cats are likely to finalise the deal before tonight’s transfer deadline.
The versatile midfielder can also play left-back and has appeared 20 times this season for the Tykes in League One, scoring three times and delivering two assists. He has made 18 international appearances for Hungary in his career, playing alongside Liverpool midfielder Dominick Szoboszlai in the middle of the park.
Sunderland have already lost midfielder Alex Pritchard to Birmingham City today, with the club confirming within the last hour that he had completed a move to St Andrews.
They have also completed another deal this morning, with Romain Mundle signing for the club from Standard Liege, in a deal set to be worth around £2 million.
Barnsley boss Neill Collins revealed this morning in his pre-Bolton Wanderers press conference that Styles is likely to leave the club, according to Andy Giddings. He has played for the League One side since 2018.
The player missed his the Tykes’ last game at Exeter City but his omission was said to be due to illness and not the fact he could be sealing a transfer away. If the deal goes through, he could make his Sunderland debut against Middlesbrough on Sunday. The Black Cats are currently seventh in the table, one point behind the play-off places.
Styles has experience in the Championship, having made 124 appearances in the division for Barnsley and Millwall, scoring on nine occasions during that period and is once agin expected to handle the step-up.
Writer’s View
The Hungarian is a player who is clearly above the level of League One and could be an ideal replacement for the outgoing Pritchard. It’s smart business to replace a 30-year-old with a 23-year-old, especially for a potential fee of around £2.1 million which is his current market value according to Transfermarkt.
If Sunderland can keep hold of Jack Clarke in the coming hours, they are setting themselves up very nicely for a playoff place in the second half of the season. Missing out on Moore to Ipswich might be a blow, but it’s unlikely to be the teams aiming for the automatic promotion places that they need to catch, with the likes of Coventry City so close to them on points.
