However, the Black Cats face competition from at least three other clubs, with Bundesliga side RB Leipzig also keen to sign Guiu on a season-long loan deal.
Chelsea gave Sunderland officials the green light to hold talks with Guiu and his representatives earlier this week, having sanctioned the 19-year-old’s departure from Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea will allow Guiu to leave on a straight one-year loan deal, without any clause for a permanent deal at the end of the loan arrangement. Anyone signing the teenager will have to pay all of his current wages as well as a one-off loan fee.
Sunderland are happy with the financial arrangements of a proposed deal, and are understood to have laid out their plans to Guiu and his agency team.
A product of Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy, Guiu made his senior debut for the Spanish giants in October 2023, scoring with his second touch as a senior professional against Athletic Bilbao.
He joined Chelsea in the summer of 2024 for a reported fee of €6m, but made just seven senior starts for the Blues last season, all of which came in cup competitions. His route to Chelsea’s first team has been blocked even further this summer due to the arrival of Liam Delap and Joao Pedro at Stamford Bridge.
Black Cats boss Regis Le Bris wants to add another central striker to his squad to provide cover and competition for Eliezer Mayenda and Wilson Isidor, who played key roles in last season’s promotion success but who do not boast any prior experience of playing in the Premier League.
However, Sunderland are not the only club holding talks with Guiu about a potential loan move. The youngster has been heavily linked with Leeds United in the last few weeks, while RB Leipzig are also known to have a strong interest in acquiring his services.
Leipzig can offer the opportunity to experience a different style of football in the Bundesliga, but are not in a position where they can offer European football after they only finished seventh in the German top-flight last season. They are looking to sign attacking reinforcements in the expectation that Benjamin Sesko will be on the move in the next few weeks.
Sunderland will hope that their powers of persuasion will lure Guiu to Wearside, with this week’s headline-grabbing capture of Granit Xhaka highlighting the pulling power that the Black Cats now possess.
Xhaka’s arrival from Bayer Leverkusen was officially confirmed on Wednesday, and Sunderland are hoping to complete the signing of goalkeeper Robin Roefs before the weekend.
Roefs was at the Academy of Light yesterday undergoing a medical after Sunderland agreed to pay an initial sum of £9.5m for the 22-year-old, with the agreement with his current employers, NEC Nijmegen, also including a further £2.5m of potential add-ons.
Roefs’ signing will end a goalkeeping recruitment drive that has been ongoing for most of the summer, with previous moves for Marcin Bulka, who joined Saudi side Neom FC, and Djordje Petrovic, who swapped Chelsea for Bournemouth, having proved unsuccessful.
Roefs was always one of the options under consideration, and Sunderland officials have agreed a deal they feel offers considerable value in the current market.
A Netherlands Under-21 international, Roefs has spent the whole of senior career with Nijmegen, having made his senior debut for the Eredivisie club in September 2023.
He has made 42 senior appearances in the Netherlands, playing for an NEC side that finished eighth in the Dutch top-flight last season.
He is set to sign a five-year contract on Wearside and become Sunderland’s number one goalkeeper, replacing Anthony Patterson, who was the first choice as the Black Cats won promotion last season.
