EMANUELE GIACCHERINI is hoping Sunderland will grant him his wish to leave Wearside on a permanent basis for around the £1.5m mark.

The Italian’s stock rose a little higher earlier this week when he scored a well-taken opening goal for Italy in the 2-0 win over Belgium at the European Championships.

His performances in France over the next few weeks could see interest in him grow after an impressive return to form at club level having spent last season on loan with Bologna.

Giaccherini is keen to seal a full-time switch away from Sunderland after a frustrating time in the Premier League following his £8m move from Juventus in the summer of 2013.

And he hopes Sunderland do not hike up their valuation of him on the back of his displays at the Euros, which could see Italy progress to the latter stages if their opening game display against Belgium is anything to go by.

Fiorentina are the front-runners for his signature and he is keen to return to Serie A full-time but hopes his £40,000-a-week contract at the Stadium of Light doesn’t cause any major problems.

The 31-year-old only has a year remaining on his deal at Sunderland so there is an acceptance they will have to take a significant hit on the fee they paid Juve for him – and he will try to get a transfer agreed for around the £1.5m figure.

Giaccherini’s agent, Giulio Marinelli, is aware Fiorentina’s sporting director Pantaleo Corvino rates him. Marinelli said: “There was activity around Giaccherini before the beginning of the Euros. He has only a year of contract with Sunderland remaining so his price could be under €2m.

“It’s not a novelty that Corvino holds Giaccherini in great esteem, but there is no news on that. Emanuele would be happy to come to Fiorentina but right now he’s only thinking about the Euros and he won’t be taking any decisions on the short term.”

Bologna remain keen in taking the attacking midfielder back and Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce is more than happy for him to leave if the deal is right because it will free up further room on the wage bill.

West Ham striker Diafra Sakho is his top target and discussions are ongoing over a fee for the £15m-rated striker, who is interested in teaming up with the man who signed him two years ago once again.

Sunderland are actively looking to offload more players from their books, with Jordi Gomez interesting his former club Wigan following promotion back to the Championship. The Spaniard spent the second half of last season on loan at Blackburn.

Allardyce is keen to have made a number of changes to his squad before they return to pre-season training at the start of July, although things have already moved slower than he would have liked.

He is keen to avoid a repeat of the relegation battles of the last few years and was handed a daunting opening day trip to the new season when the Premier League fixtures were announced.

Sunderland will head to Manchester City on August 13 for Pep Guardiola’s first game in charge in England and Allardyce will then look for early season points against Middlesbrough and Southampton before the first international break.

Sunderland will travel to the Olympic Stadium to face West Ham on October 22 and will have to travel to Manchester United and Burnley, respectively, on Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve.

After facing Boro at the Riverside on March 11, Sunderland will finish the season by playing Hull City (a), Swansea (h) and Chelsea (a) in May, although they would hope to be clear of the drop zone by then.