SUNDERLAND have lined up a move for Portsmouth goalkeeper Alex Bass, with the 24-year-old set to move to Wearside as a deputy to Black Cats number one Anthony Patterson.
With Lee Burge having left the Stadium of Light this summer to join Northampton Town, Patterson is currently the only senior shot-stopper on the club’s books.
Jacob Carney has been part of the first-team squad during pre-season, and played the full 90 minutes of Monday’s final pre-season friendly at Hartlepool, but Alex Neil does not feel the homegrown 21-year-old is ready for a full season in the senior group and would prefer to send him on loan for some regular experience.
That has led him to look elsewhere for an alternative to Patterson, and while Sunderland were linked with a possible move for experienced Leicester City shot-stopper Daniel Iversen, they have instead turned their attentions to Bass.
The Pompey shot-stopper is a product of the Fratton Park academy, and had loan spells at Torquay United and Southend United before spending the second half of last season on loan at League Two side Bradford City.
Bass made 21 appearances for the Bantams in the second half of last term, keeping six clean sheets for Mark Hughes’ side. He made his Portsmouth debut in 2016 at the age of just 16m but has amassed just 15 league appearances for the club.
He is set to join Sunderland on a permanent basis, having also attracted interest from Crawley Town and Exeter City this summer.
With talks with Portsmouth and Bass’ representatives having progressed quickly since the weekend, the Southampton-born keeper is set to travel to the North-East for a medical and to finalise his move. Provided things continue to progress as planned, he should be confirmed as a Sunderland player ahead of Sunday’s Championship season-opener with Coventry City.
Neil remains hopeful of having at least one attacking reinforcement in place ahead of Sunday’s televised meeting with the Sky Blues, although talks with Everton over Nathan Broadhead remain at something of an impasse.
Sunderland have also been linked with Broadhead’s Goodison Park team-mate, Ellis Simms, although Frank Lampard is still to decide whether or not to allow the latter to leave on loan. Simms spent the second half of last season on loan at Scottish Premier League side Hearts, scoring seven goals in 20 appearances.
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