CELTIC are increasingly confident of persuading Charlie Wyke to turn his back on Sunderland, and reject alternative offers from the Championship, in order to head north of the border for next season.

Having confirmed Australian Ange Postecoglou as their new manager last week, Celtic are hoping to make significant progress in the transfer market in the next few days.

They held initial talks with Wyke and his representatives earlier in the summer, and are now ready to firm up a formal offer to the Teessider, who is a free agent following the end of his deal at the Stadium of Light.

Sunderland officials have offered him a new contract on Wearside, and are understood to be willing to offer similar financial terms to what is expected to be on offer at Celtic, or at Championship clubs Cardiff City, Nottingham Forest and Millwall, who have also held talks this summer.

However, persuading Wyke to remain in League One rather than head to the Scottish Premier League or the English second tier will be a major challenge for the Sunderland hierarchy, who are also involved in ongoing contract discussions with Denver Hume, Luke O’Nien and Aiden McGeady.

Celtic need to reinforce their attack, with Odsonne Edouard being heavily linked with a potential move to Leicester City this summer, Leigh Griffiths currently in contractual limbo and Moi Elyounoussi having returned to his parent club, Southampton.

The Glasgow club regard Wyke as a cut-price option to help remould their attack, and a strengthening of their interest will almost certainly reduce Sunderland’s chances of retaining the striker significantly.

The Black Cats are set for an extremely busy summer of transfer activity, with seven senior players already having been released since the end of last season.

Lee Johnson is close to completing his first summer signing, with Manchester United goalkeeper Jacob Carney having been offered a move to Wearside.

Carney, who only turned 20 in April, is set to become a free agent at the end of the month and has not been offered a new deal at Old Trafford. He has featured regularly for Manchester United’s Under-21s, and while Burnley and Brighton have both been linked with a possible move for his services this summer, Sunderland are set to push through a deal.