Wigan Athletic manager Paul Cook has cooled speculation linking striker Will Grigg with a move to Sunderland, saying they have no intention to sell, reports Paul Kendrick of Wigan Today. 

Black Cats' manager Jack Ross had previously confessed his interest in the 27-year-old but a deal now looks a lot less unlikely than it had previously.

“I think Sunderland have made four bids for Will," Cooke revealed.

"But the fact we’ve rebuffed four bids, you can clearly see our intent is not to sell players.

"We want to strengthen and keep our better players.”

Grigg has made 17 Championship appearances for the Latics this season, predominantly as a substitute, scoring four goals.

Sunderland are keen to bring in another striker with the future of star man Josh Maja still up in the air and a move for the Northern Ireland international makes sense.

In his previous two seasons in League One with Wigan, Grigg has netted 19 and 21 goals, showing he has a real knack for finding the back of third-tier nets.

It remains to be seen whether or not Sunderland will go back in with a fifth bid or move onto a different target altogether.

The verdict 

This will, without a doubt, be a big blow to Sunderland fans who were led to believe by Ross that a deal was close.

But I think the important thing now is that the club do not fall back into bad habits and get held to ransom and pay well over the odds for a player.

They seem to be much more financially savvy now so it will be interesting to see what happens next.