Ignacio Scocco looks to be nearing the return to former club, Newell’s Old Boys that he has been looking for after the Rosario club improved their offer to $4 million. While Scocco, Newell’s and Sunderland will be happy with this deal, River Plate will be disappointed to have missed out on their main striker target ahead of the new season.

Discussions have been on-going for weeks with Sunderland eager to get Scocco off their wage bill after a disastrous spell in the Premier League. Gus Poyet brought Scocco from Internacional in January to add some firepower to his attack in a relegation battle but in the brief appearances that Scocco made he failed to make any impact.

Since the season ended, Scocco has made no secret of his desire to return to Newell’s, where he started his career and won the Torneo Final in 2013 and although it has taken a great deal of negotiating a deal now appears close.

Since leaving, Newell’s have found goals harder to come by and so manager, Gustavo Raggio will be pleased to have a striker who was the leading scorer in his previous two seasons in the Argentine top flight.

These attributes and statistics are why there was plenty of interest in Scocco from Argentina’s biggest clubs. Boca Juniors and River Plate were both attributed with an interest but it is the latter who had made Scocco there priority signing.

River boss, Marcelo Gallardo had told the club that Scocco would be preferred option for a striker but finding a financial agreement with Sunderland also proved difficult. However, missing out on Scocco leaves Gallardo with somewhat of a dilemma.

Colombian striker, Teo Gutierrez is likely not to return to River for the new season, Fernando Cavanaghi is currently out injured and will miss the start, and David Trezeguet has been frozen out. This leaves Gallardo without a senior striker and the new manager is reluctant to depend on River’s young strikers, Federico Andrada, Sebastián Druissi and Gio Simeoni.

River will now turn their attention to other targets and the next is reportedly, Atlético Rafaela striker, Lucas Albertengo. The 23-year-old has been one of Atlético’s star players over the past year and would be an excellent acquisition for River.