Sunderland narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League last month, but any hopes they have of challenging at the top end of the Championship next season will come down to their transfer business in the coming weeks.
A number of key men have been strongly linked with moves away, not least in-demand attacker Jack Clarke, while Adama Diallo has already returned to parent club Manchester United.
Sunderland are hopeful Diallo may yet return to the Stadium of Light for a second season, but United are expected to give the big-money signing a chance to prove himself in the Premier League.
That is not to say Sunderland cannot find an adequate replacement, however, with a number of options available for reasonable fees, or indeed as free agents.
Bradley Dack is one of those available for free after his time at Blackburn Rovers officially came to an end, and his time working under Tony Mowbray in the past makes him an obvious possible option for the Black Cats to sign.
As recently as March, they were touted as a possible option for the player.
Where would Bradley Dack fit in at Sunderland?
Dack spent six seasons with Blackburn, the past five of those in the Championship, racking up 173 appearances for the club – a tally that would have been higher if not for a couple of serious injuries, which effectively cost him two years of his career.
The 29-year-old has not quite been the same player since, explaining Blackburn's decision to not trigger a 12-month extension in the midfielder's £11k-per-week contract, as per Capology.
However, described as a "crowd favourite" by Blackburn chief Gregg Broughton following his departure from Ewood Park, Dack is a player who excited on the pitch and also has an infectious personality off it.
Both factors can come in handy for Mowbray, who was the man in charge when Dack joined Blackburn from Gillingham for a £750k fee in 2017 – money that was very much well spent.
Should Mowbray repeat the trick this summer, Dack can provide Sunderland with goals and creativity from attacking midfield, something they will otherwise greatly miss following Diallo's departure.
Dack scored four goals and assisted one more in 27 Championship outings last season, though more than half of those appearances came as a substitute.
When factoring in his per 90 minutes stats, FBref ranks Dack among the top 22% among his positional peers in terms of non-penalty goals (0.30) over the past year. That is not too dissimilar to Diallo, who boasts a figure of 0.35 in the same metric.
Indeed, the pair are very alike in terms of non-penalty expected goals per 90 minutes (0.20 for Diallo compared to 0.23 for Dack) and goals per shot (0.16 v 0.17), suggesting they take up similar positions and convert at a similar rate.
While Diallo excels in areas such as touches per 90 (61.9 compared to 42.2), Dack comes out on top for take-on success rate (50% v 47.3%) and completed through-balls (0.37 v 0.21).
Having ruled out a move for Dack in the January window due to financial reasons, a reunion with the free agent – a man Mowbray previously described as a "natural talent" – makes perfect sense this summer for promotion-seeking Sunderland.
