Aaron Connolly is on the brink of ending his short stint in Sunderland amid reports that Alex Neil is set to bring him south to Millwall.
Since signing a one-year deal with Sunderland last September, Connolly has started just two league games, albeit scoring in one of them, a 1-1 draw away to Millwall in November.
Aside from that, Connolly has had to content himself with sub appearances, with manager Regis Le Bris acknowledging last week that he would struggle for game-time at the club.
However, Millwall, currently 14th in the table under former Sunderland boss Neil, but with the joint-lowest goals tally in the league, appear on the cusp of signing the Republic of Ireland striker.
Since bursting onto the scene at Brighton with a brace of goals against Tottenham in 2019, Connolly has struggled to maintain his early promise, with spells at Middlesbrough, Venezia and Hull City before signing for Sunderland in the autumn.
Connolly has nine appearances for Republic of Ireland, most recently as a late substitute in the 2-0 loss to France in the Parc des Princes in the Euro 2024 qualifier in September 2023.
Meanwhile, Aston Villa are hoping to complete the signing of Borussia Dortmund forward Donyell Malen this week.
Bundesliga side Dortmund have been reported to have accepted an improved bid of around £21million for the 25-year-old Netherlands international.
Malen, who has scored five goals in 21 appearances for Dortmund in all competitions this season, has 18 months remaining on his contract with the German club.
He progressed through Arsenal's academy after joining from Ajax in 2015, but was sold on to PSV Eindhoven in 2017 for an undisclosed fee after failing to make a senior competitive appearance for the Gunners.
Dortmund paid an undisclosed fee for Malen in the summer of 2021 when he signed a five-year deal and he has scored a total of 30 goals in 94 Bundesliga appearances.
He has made 41 appearances for the Netherlands since scoring on his senior debut in a Euro qualifier against Germany in 2019.
Additional reporting: PA
