Football journalist Alan Nixon has provided an update on Sunderland's rumoured pursuit of Carlisle United midfielder Jon Mellish, after taking to Twitter to play down reports that the player could be returning to the Stadium of Light. 

Mellish of course used to be on the books of the club's academy and has since gone on to carve out an impressive career for himself at first team level for first Gateshead and more recently Carlisle in Sky Bet League Two.

It is the player's goal scoring exploits that are earning the 23-year-old such rave reviews, with the usually defensive midfielder having notched 12 goals across all competitions for the Cumbrians, leading to the links being made to his former club.

However it appears that any talk of a Sunderland return may be little more than a piece of hearsay, with Nixon stating the following earlier today:

Quiz: Did these 20 things happen to Sunderland in 2020?

Having originally joined the Cumbrian outfit back in the summer of 2019, Mellish has gone on to play just under 50 times for the Brunton Park club and has a current contract which expires in the summer of this year.

The Verdict 

This is an easy link for people to come up with given the player's form and his previous links with Sunderland and I do feel this could be just a bit of paper talk rather than anything serious.

Mellish is thriving at Carlisle under Chris Beech's management and for that reason he should look to stay put until at least the summer, particularly with the club sitting top of the table at the time of writing.

The Black Cats are well stocked in midfield at present and certainly have no real need to strengthen that are of the side, although much of their activity this month will come down to Lee Johnson's wants and needs going forwards.

With his contract expiring come the end of the current campaign, Mellish could well be on the move but for now the door appears to be firmly closed on a potential return to the North East.