Middlesbrough boss Neil Warnock is keen to sign former Sunderland forward Duncan Watmore - but admits it is just 'not possible' at present.
Watmore's seven-year spell with the Black Cats - which was wrecked by two serious knee injuries - came to an end when his contract ran out this summer and he departed Wearside.
But the 26-year-old has spent time training with Boro and Warnock would like to add the free agent to his squad, with a long-term injury to one-time Sunderland loanee Ashley Fletcher leaving him with Britt Assombalonga and Chuba Akpom as his only two fit strikers.
However finances are tight and Warnock says he is unable to sign any new players, although he held out hope that the situation could change in the near future.
“At the moment I'm not prepared to sign anyone because of the circumstances," Warnock told our sister title GazetteLive.
"But Duncan is aware of that, and he's aware of how much I'm enjoying him training with us at the moment.
"It's not just down to him, and I'm hoping we can come to some sort of agreement sooner rather than later.
"But at the moment it's not possible.
"I'll speak to him this week. Things might change overnight. We just have to wait and see.
"But he's aware of my situation, and I'm sure he'll have other offers on the table as well, which he'll have to consider."
One option could be for Boro to sign Watmore on a short-term deal until January.
Warnock said: "He's different to what we have and he is available.
"He's been training hard too.
"It might be that we only do a deal until January, just in case we have a situation like the other week when Chuba went down and if Britt had gone down as well…
"To play a full 90 minutes, it's hard for these players up front on their own at times in certain tactics."
Former England U21 international Watmore was a bright talent at Sunderland in the Premier League, but he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in December 2016 kept him out for ten months, and after half-a-dozen games he suffered the same injury to the same knee in November 2017 which sidelined him for another year.
After a long battle for fitness, he played 16 games for the Black Cats in 2018-19 and another 22 games last season, but his injury history combined with his Premier League level contract meant there was no prospect of a new deal this summer.
