WILL Grigg may well be coming to the County Ground in January after Swindon Town manager Richie Wellens this morning failed to quash rumours surrounding the Sunderland striker’s future.

The 28-year-old has been the topic of many a discussion on social media in recent days after it emerged via The Sun’s Alan Nixon that Town and Salford City were leading the race to sign the frontman on loan.

Sunderland clearly see the former Wigan attacker as surplus to requirements at the Stadium of Light following the signing of fellow countryman Kyle Lafferty, but Wellens would not be drawn on confirming or denying interest in Grigg.

During the club’s usual pre-match press conference, ahead of Town’s weekend trip to Newport County, Wellens was asked whether the club’s next striker would be ‘on fire’ – a nod to the song which came to prominence during Grigg’s scoring run at EURO 2016.

He said: “Maybe. Eoin Doyle was, so maybe, we’ll see.”

Wellens reacted similarly when pressed about Doyle the previous week and says the club are in the market for a more expensive striker.

Town’s interest in Doyle is not thought to be completely over, but with a deal looking increasingly unlikely, Wellens said it would be foolish not to pursue other targets.

The Town boss admitted there are plenty of younger, cheaper and inexperienced options available, but the club cannot afford to wait for an under-23 player to find his feet as the race for promotion begins its final descent.

Wellens said: “I have to go after those kinds of players because the under-23 options are out there, but I want someone who has got a belief he can come in and score goals.

“I don’t want them to be coming here and thinking: ‘this is my first loan, I’m living away from home for the first time, how am I going to settle in with the lads?’ “I want someone who is experienced, who knows the game and is ready to come in and have an impact straight away.

“No settling in period, he knows he’s going to play straight away for a team that are going to make a lot of chances, and he’s going to come in and hit the ground running.

“Yes they cost a bit more, but the profile of player that we’re looking at is someone with a track record, with experience and someone who the players will look at and go ‘if we make chances, this bloke will put the ball in the net.’”