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Sunderland are ready to raise the stakes as they look to prise Leonardo Ulloa away from Leicester City, after seeing an initial low-ball bid knocked back at the end of last week.

The Black Cats are understood to have made an initial offer of around £3m for the wantaway Argentinian striker, which has been turned down by the Foxes.

That will have come as no surprise to Sunderland, who were chancing their arm by making such a low bid.

But it was only an opening gambit and they are now likely increase that offer to a more realistic level, with Patrick van Aanholt’s impending £14m move to Crystal Palace - which is likely to go through on Monday subject to personal terms being agreed and the player passing a medical - providing the Black Cats with the finances to do so.

Sunderland will also used some of the money to bankroll a bid for Everton’s Bryan Oviedo, who is wanted by David Moyes as a direct replacement for van Aanholt.

Moyes needs Ulloa as an extra attacking option after Victor Anichebe was ruled out for three months with a knee ligament injury.

Ulloa is a player who has long been linked with Sunderland with former boss Gus Poyet keen to raid his old club Brighton to bring him to Wearside in 2014, but the frontman made an £8m move to Leicester that summer instead.

And Moyes tried to sign Ulloa on loan on deadline day in the summer, but Leicester were only interested in a sale and at that point Sunderland’s budget could not stretch to the asking price.

But the sale of van Aanholt will generate cash and, crucially, give Sunderland some leeway to add to their wage bill while remaining within the Premier League Financial Fair Play rules.

Ulloa - who has started only one Premier League game this season - wants to leave the King Power Stadium and handed in a transfer request earlier this month.

He has scored 18 goals in 78 games for the Foxes, despite more than half of those appearances having been made as a substitute.

Van Aanholt’s departure will leave Sunderland without a recognised senior left-back, and Moyes has been looking at a number of options to fill that role including Norwich City’s Robbie Brady, Bordeaux’s Diego Contento, and Oviedo.

Brady was not keen on joining Sunderland’s relegation battle, and that has seen Moyes turn his attentions to Oviedo - a player he knows well, having brought the Costa Rica international to Goodison Park from FC Copenhagen for a fee of around £5m in the summer of 2012.

The 26-year-old has mainly been used as backup for first-choice Leighton Baines, but has made 50 league appearances for the Merseysiders, scoring two goals.

Ideally, Moyes would also like to bring in a creative midfielder before the transfer window closes on Tuesday night but much will depend on how much money is left after plugging the gaps up front and in defence.