Manchester City have reportedly enquired about the availability of unsettled Sunderland goalkeeper Marton Fulop as they await permission to sign a replacement for the injured Shay Given.
City were left without an experienced senior goalkeeper when Republic of Ireland international Given dislocated his shoulder at the weekend.
Joe Hart is currently on loan at Birmingham and Stuart Taylor is on his way back from a knee injury, and reports today claimed the Eastlands club are attempting to recall Hart from his spell at St Andrews.
Hungary international Fulop is currently number three at the Stadium of Light and seemingly heading for the exit after making his desperation for first-team football abundantly clear.
Manager Steve Bruce admitted earlier this season that he would not stand in the 26-year-old’s way should the right offer come along.
Whether he is the man to answer City’s call will depend upon the club being given permission to strike an emergency loan deal, and that in turn could rest on the success or otherwise of any bid to recall Hart.
Roberto Mancini’s men currently lie in sixth position in the Barclays Premier League table with three games remaining, but are just a point adrift of both Tottenham and Aston Villa, their rivals for a top-four finish.
Fulop arrived on Wearside on a loan deal from Tottenham in November 2006 as Ben Alnwick moved in the opposite direction, and the transfer became permanent during the following January.
He had to initially remain patient but got his big chance last season when, after Scotland’s Craig Gordon succumbed to an ankle injury, he started 24 of the next 26 games.
Fulop began the current campaign as number one but lost his place to Gordon and was then overtaken by Trevor Carson on the bench.
Speaking last month about Fulop’s desire to move on, Bruce said: “He has made it pretty clear in all sorts of interviews. He is not the number one - I have made my choice there.
“He wants to go and play football and we have to respect that and if there is a taker out there, then we will see what happens. But certainly, I won’t stand in his way.”
PA