Sunderland are still on the lookout for a new striker and are fast running out of time to find one before beginning their Championship campaign against Ipswich Town in two weeks' time.
What is the latest Sunderland transfer news?
The Black Cats acted swiftly in bringing in young quartet Luis 'Hemir' Semedo, Jenson Seelt, Jobe Bellingham and Nectarios Triantis last month, but their transfer activity has gone quiet since then.
On the back of missing out on signing Ellis Simms permanently, as well as seeing fellow loanee Amad Diallo return to Manchester United, manager Tony Mowbray revealed earlier this month he is after another striker.
With Ross Stewart still sidelined ahead of the new season, Mowbray is effectively relying on Hemir – a talented player but one who has zero senior appearances to his name – to lead Sunderland's line.
However, Mowbray's men could find the ideal alternative in Everton's Tom Cannon, whom The Sun has reported is a £3m option this summer after starring on loan for Preston North End last season.
How many goals has Tom Cannon scored?
Cannon made two substitute appearances for Everton in the first half of last season's Premier League campaign prior to being sent to Deepdale for the final four months of the season.
The 20-year-old had a big impact during his short stay at Preston, scoring eight goals and assisting one more in 20 Championship appearances – eight of those coming in the space of 11 matches when he found his feet – as North End finished 12th.
That equates to 0.65 goals per 90 minutes in the second tier, as per FBref, which only Stewart could better among Sunderland players last season with 0.86. For further perspective, Simms registered 0.56 goals per 90 minutes, while Diallo managed 0.45 per 90.
Indeed, Cannon also outperformed Diallo (39.1) and Simms (27.5) in terms of shots on target percentage (47.8), as well as take-on success rate (51.1% compared to 42.5% for Diallo and 28.6% for Simms).
Beating opponents is a particular strength for Cannon, as he ranks in the top 16% of all forwards across the eight leagues most alike the Championship in terms of quality when taking the last 12 months into account.
While all three players boast strengths in different areas – Simms is the best of the three in the air; Diallo is a lot better in the defensive metrics – Cannon could ultimately do a very similar job to both should Sunderland land his signature.
Losing Simms in the second half of last season was a major blow for Mowbray, but Cannon showed he can score at an even better rate in what was a weaker side than Sunderland last season.
As football reporter Josh Bunting put it, Cannon is a "threat" and a "goalscorer", and a player who looks destined for big things on the basis of what we have seen from him before the age of 21.
If that happens to be away from Goodison Park, Sunderland must ensure they are at the front of the queue to sign the Republic of Ireland U21 international.