Sources: Portsmouth, Sheffield Wednesday and Hull in race for ex-Southampton star Sims
Hull City, Sheffield Wednesday, Portsmouth and Lincoln City are chasing former Southampton winger Josh Sims, Football Insider understands.
The 24-year-old has been a free agent after leaving St Mary’s Stadium last summer and he has been weighing up where to move next in his career.
A recruitment source has told Football Insider that Championship outfit Hull as well as League One trio Sheffield Wednesday, Portsmouth and Lincoln have made enquiries about signing Sims this month.
The EFL quartet are looking to add to their attacking options for the second half of the season.
Sims lefts Southampton last summer (2021) after making 27 senior appearances for the club.
The attacker first joined the club’s academy in 2011 and started his senior career with a bang, providing the assist in a 1-0 win over Everton on his debut back in 2016.
He also featured in the club’s Europa League campaign during the 2016-17 season but soon fell out of favour.
Loan moves to Reading, New York Red Bulls and Doncaster Rovers followed but none of them yielded much success.
Across 57 loan appearances, Sims scored four goals with three of them coming at Doncaster during the 2020-21 campaign.
Sims told The Athletic (16 November) he has been suffering from various heart issues over the last few years.
It was claimed Southampton would let the player return to training with the club to build up fitness ahead of finding a new club as, in his own words, “I haven’t kicked a ball since May”.
Sheffield Wednesday and Portsmouth remain in the hunt for a League One play-off spot with Lincoln looking to avoid relegation.
Hull are trying to avoid a return to the third tier, they lie 19th in the Championship.
In other news, our sources claims Philippe Coutinho has made up his mind on signing for Newcastle United.