HAD things played out differently in the summer then Jay Stansfield would have been lining up for rather than against Sunderland this weekend.

The Fulham forward was near the top of Sunderland's wishlist as the Black Cats targeted strikers in the summer transfer window and there was a stage when it appeared the 20-year-old would be heading for Wearside.

In the end, he instead opted for a move to Birmingham City, where he's impressed so far. And as Tony Mowbray sets about preparing his defenders for the challenge of shackling the young striker, the Sunderland boss admits there was a period in the summer when he felt confident the Black Cats had won the battle for the youngster - revealing that Fulham boss Marco Silva had given the switch the green light.

"Yeah, I think so," said Mowbray, when asked whether he thought Stansfield was Stadium of Light-bound in the summer.

"I never got to the point of expecting him to arrive the next day but it's something we chased pretty hard and for whatever reason...I did have a conversation with him, I spoke to his manager at Fulham and they were pretty sound and happy that he was coming here. For whatever reason, that didn't happen."

There are no hard feelings and Mowbray quickly moved on to other targets when Stansfield chose Birmingham.

He said: "Listen, I was a young footballer once and to take you out of your roots and send you 350 miles up the country is probably daunting for him. I don't know the reason. Maybe he thinks Birmingham is a great club and he's always loved Birmingham, I don't know. Or maybe it's a one hour train journey from Birmingham central to Kings Cross, I don't know.

"That said, he's a good footballer, he knows where the back of the net is, he's scored a few goals for them."

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Stansfield has a handful of goals Birmingham so far, including strikes in his last two games and tops the charts for the Blues, who are still looking for their first win under Wayne Rooney.

The young striker has quickly established himself as a key figure for Saturday's visitors but is one booking away from a suspension.

Rooney said: "You can't go into a game worrying about what happens if you get a yellow card,

"You have to give everything on the pitch and sometimes that means you get yellow cards. If a player gets suspended you miss them for that game, or three games, but I won't be asking them to not go in for tackles.

"If he gets a booking he gets a booking. We have got players who are more than capable of coming in."

Krystian Bielik will be missing for Birmingham at the Stadium of Light after he picked up his fifth yellow card in last weekend's draw with Ipswich Town.