Sunderland turned down the chance to sign Brentford's Marcus Forss a few years ago, with the striker now attracting interest from Borussia Dortmund.

The 21-year-old has enjoyed a fine start to the campaign, scoring four goals in nine Championship appearances, although he has started on the bench in every league game, meaning his goals to minute ratio is exceptional.

As well as that, Forss has been called up to the Finnish national team, and he netted in a 2-0 win at France earlier this month.

So, his stock is rising considerably and The Athletic have revealed that Dortmund are checking the Bees attacker as they see him as a potential star for the future.

Interestingly, they also explain how Forss was snubbed by the Black Cats as he looked for a new club around four years ago.

Having been released by West Brom, the update states that the striker headed to Wearside for a trial, but he clearly wasn't deemed good enough as no deal was offered and Forss ended up joining Brentford.

The verdict

This isn't a good look for Sunderland when you consider where they are now, although it should be pointed out that they were a struggling Premier League club at the time.

Plus, the fact Albion released him may indicate that Forss just wasn't up to it then and he may have been a late developer.

Either way, their loss was Brentford's gain, as they saw something in the player and it's a decision that is paying off spectacularly. It will be very interesting to see how far Forss goes in the game because he has so much potential.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.