SUNDERLAND have been forced into a transfer rethink after Ipswich keeper Kelvin Davis rejected a move to the Stadium of Light.
Both clubs agreed a £1m fee and Davis headed to the North-East last week for talks but returned to Suffolk unconvinced.
Now, after discussing the situation with those close to him over the weekend, the 28-year-old is understood to have decided against uprooting his young family.
It is a decision that has left Ipswich, banking on the money raised from that sale, looking for another suitable buyer while Sunderland are having to consider their options.
The Black Cats have maintained throughout the proposed deal that they have other irons in the fire and Thomas Myhre could yet sign another deal with the club.
And the latest name to have been touted around yesterday was Italian keeper Marco Fortin, whose club Siena claim Sunderland have made an inquiry.
Manager Mick McCarthy still has Mart Poom and Ben Alnwick on his playing staff but the move for Davis highlighted the determination to add a new shot-stopper to his playing staff.
Poom was linked with a move to West Ham over the weekend but it could be that the Hammers now turn their attention to Davis, with the Ipswich man desperate to play for a southern club.
It has been a case of back to the drawing board for McCarthy, who has also been knocked back for a second time in his attempt to sign Wolves striker Kenny Miller.
Sunderland are believed to have offered around £1.25m, a quarter of a million more than last week's initial bid, for Miller but the Molineux board are holding out for £2m.
The 25-year-old has a year to run on his existing deal and is quite keen to move but Wolves are relaxed about the whole affair.
Chief executive Jez Moxey would be willing to offload him at the right price but is also prepared to retain a player who is more than capable of bagging 20 goals in the Championship next season.
"We received a second offer but it fell way short of our valuation of the player and we communicated this to Sunderland,'' Moxey said. "The manager would be keen to keep Kenny for next season and unless a suitable bid is received, we are happy for him to stay and play for us next term."
Sunderland have insisted a new kit deal with Lonsdale has been agreed but was due to circumstances out of their hands.
Sunderland chief executive Peter Walker said: "Due to factors which were beyond the control of the club, Diadora will no longer be manufacturing and supplying our kit. "
Meanwhile, striker Marcus Stewart has completed a move to boyhood heroes Bristol City.
The 32-year-old said: "I didn't speak to anybody else because I made my mind up halfway through last season that I wanted to come to Bristol City.''
Read more about Sunderland here.
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