RUSSELL Martin has all but confirmed his interest in Sunderland's Ross Stewart, as Southampton line up a move for the striker.

Martin previously tried to sign Stewart when he was in charge at MK Dons but missed out on the frontman, who was at Ross County at the time and instead opted for the switch to Wearside.

Stewart has established himself as one of the most prolific strikers outside the Premier League in his time at the Stadium of Light and Martin has continued to admire the Scot from afar.

And the Southampton boss could now be finally set to get his transfer wish, with Saints readying a move for Stewart and confident a deal can be agreed ahead of Friday night's deadline.

Sunderland are braced for Southampton's bid and there's a growing expectation that the deal will go through in the next 48 hours.

Martin was quizzed on his Stewart interest on Wednesday afternoon, and said: "I really like Ross, I tried to sign him at MK Dons.

"I really liked him then and he's go on to do brilliantly at Sunderland.

"He's been out for a while. We're going to be linked with so many players. Some of those are so far away that we haven't even discussed, and some of them are really close to the mark and some of them we'll probably end up bringing in.

"Ross is one of a number that we've been linked with, and again, we'll just have to wait and see [what happens]."

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Southampton are hopeful of signing Stewart regardless of what happens with Che Adams, who is wanted by Crystal Palace. Martin wants to keep Adams at St Mary's and if that proves to be the case he's still keen on adding one more striker to his forward line.

He said: "There's three scenarios, really.

"One is that we keep Che and everyone is happy. One is that we lose Che and we replace him, and the other is that we keep Che and maybe add someone else, as well. Whatever happens, we'll be OK.

"That's it, really, I can't be anymore open or transparent [than that].

"I don't think anything has advanced since we last spoke. The club that came in has gone away, maybe some other clubs will come to the table at some point.

"Until then... he's trained really well and he's really focused. If he's here [on Saturday], he will be 100% be involved."