DIAFRA SAKHO is back on Sunderland’s radar after his £16m move to West Bromwich Albion collapsed at the last minute.

West Ham United are now looking to resurrect a deal elsewhere, with the Black Cats still interested even though David Moyes has other attacking targets in mind.

Sakho was a striker Sam Allardyce wanted before taking over England but he was unable to get a deal done because the Black Cats were unwilling to match the £16m valuation.

However, Sunderland have still been unable to bolster their attacking options and the 26-year-old remains on the club’s shortlist.

Sakho has had an interrupted pre-season schedule and his fitness is short of where it should be at this stage, which has put off the Baggies even though he is thought to have passed a medical.

The Senegalese international agreed terms over a move to the Hawthorns earlier this week and he told Tony Pulis he was ready to complete the deal, but the Premier League club have pulled the plug on the terms before it was concluded.

Now West Ham and Sakho, who handed in a transfer request earlier this summer, are both desperate to find a fresh deal and that has put Sunderland on alert.

Moyes – who has also shown an interest in a cut price move for Liverpool’s Christian Benteke - admitted on Monday that he was desperate to add to his striker options because he only had Jermain Defoe in his squad who is an out and out striker. Fabio Borini and Duncan Watmore can also play there as well as out wide.

Defoe has not travelled with the Sunderland party which has flown to Austria for tonight’s friendly with Borussia Dortmund.

The 33-year-old has been struggling with a thigh problem and has missed the last few pre-season fixtures and will not figure in the final friendly of the summer against the Germans.

It is more of a precautionary measure why he has not travelled to Austria, although he faces a fight to be fit for the trip to Manchester City in the Premier League on Saturday week.

Another absentee on the flight out of Newcastle was Jan Kirchhoff. The German midfielder suffered a hamstring problem in Sunderland’s last friendly against Montpellier and was pencilled in for a scan earlier this week.

Moyes will be banking on him being for the trip to the Etihad Stadium too, particularly as he is still to announce Sunderland’s first signing of the summer.

He has been trying all week to strike a deal or two and he is understood to be close to re-signing Yann M’Vila from Rubin Kazan, following last season’s loan to the Stadium of Light. DeAndre Yedlin, another on loan last season, is also on the radar and he was left out of Tottenham’s squad to face Inter Milan in Norway this weekend.

Sunderland have included teenager Elliot Embleton in the squad that has travelled to Austria. The playmaker, aged 17, has caught the eye of Moyes during the last week and could figure against Dortmund.