Sunderland's potential promotion to the Championship this season could come at a small cost, with a clause set to benefit struggling Wigan should the Black Cats achieve success, according to The Sun, pre ChronicleLive.

Lee Johnson's side are flying high right now, losing just one game in their last eight league outings and they've risen into the play off places - with automatic promotion not out of the question.

The partnership between Aiden McGeady and Charlie Wyke has been lethal, and of course the feel-good factor around the Stadium of Light may also have been helped with the takeover by young tycoon Kyril Louis-Dreyfus.

At the other end of the spectrum in League One, Wigan Athletic are struggling and they still sit in administration, eight months after being forced into it.

A takeover may be closer than ever with several interested parties circling, and you'd hope and expect that there will be a new owner in before the end of the season.

Whoever that may be, they may get an immediate windfall from the Black Cats should they gain promotion.

Per The Sun (via ChronicleLive), Sunderland would owe the Latics £300,000 due to clauses inserted in the transfers for Will Grigg and Max Power.

One of those players has been a success for the club, with Power now captaining the club and is a regular in the team, but the £3 million deal that took Grigg to Wearside in 2019 has been a bit of a failure.

Even though he's not currently at Sunderland - he's scoring goals again for MK Dons - the Black Cats would still have to pay out as part of the terms of his transfer.

The Verdict

£300,000 is pocket change to new Sunderland owner Louis-Dreyfus, who is sitting on a £2 billion trust fund and his mother Margarita is worth $5.6 billion.

And it's likely that if Sunderland do get promoted this season - which is a real possibility with the way they're playing under Johnson - then Louis-Dreyfus will invest heavily in the team to get them back to the top flight.

As for Wigan, £300,000 would probably sound great for them right now, but at this moment it would only go to the administrators for the running of the club.

New owners need to be put in place very soon for the Latics' future to be secure, and regardless of what league they're in next season they'll have their fingers crossed for a Sunderland promotion due to the clauses.