SHREWSBURY TOWN will not be rekindling their interest in Will Grigg – and their manager, Sam Ricketts, has hinted the new League One salary cap will make it extremely difficult for Sunderland to offload the striker.

The Black Cats are willing to listen to offers for Grigg, who has proved a major disappointment since moving to Wearside in a £3m deadline-day move from Wigan Athletic in January 2019.

Sunderland officials have received a number of inquiries about the Northern Ireland international, but no one has come forward with a firm proposal for a deal.

Shrewsbury were one of the clubs touted as potential suitors, having made an unsuccessful attempt to sign Grigg on loan in January.

However, Ricketts claims the Shrews’ interest at the start of the year was an attempt to plug a specific gap in the squad, and with the situation having changed since then, Sunderland’s League One rivals will not be returning with a new offer.

They would not be in a position to match Grigg’s wages anyway, and with League One clubs having voted to introduce a salary cap of £2.5m next season, it will be hard for anyone in the third tier to justify the kind of outlay that would be needed to take the 29-year-old from Sunderland.

“I think that (the January interest) was a bit of a one-off scenario that suited everyone,” said Ricketts. “Sunderland will be different, the finances involved are very different.

“He’s a proven goalscorer, but he’s not someone who you can sit here and now say is viable, especially with the salary cap now like it is.”

Phil Parkinson is hoping to make some transfer inroads of his own this week, and is close to completing a deal for goalkeeper Remi Matthews.

The Black Cats boss turned to Matthews, who is a free agent after rejecting a contract offer from Bolton, after he was unable to agree a deal with Wolves for alternative target Matija Sarkic.

Sunderland have added a trio of players to their Under-23s ranks ahead of the start of the new season, with Sam Wilding, Bobby Beaumont and Vinnie Steels all having signed one-year deals.

Wilding, a 20-year-old midfielder, came through the youth system at West Brom and impressed during a recent trial on Wearside, while Beaumont, an 18-year-old defender, was previously with Wrexham. Steels was previously in Sunderland’s academy system as a teenager, and returns after spells at Darlington, York and Burnley.