http://www.sunderlandecho.com/sport...to-be-sunderland-s-only-january-buy-1-7055842 GUS POYET is not expecting any further arrivals at Sunderland in the January transfer window. Sunderland today unveiled England striker Jermain Defoe after sealing a swap deal for the 32-year-old, with flop Jozy Altidore heading in the opposite direction to MLS outfit Toronto FC. Poyet has repeatedly spoken of adding “quality not quantity” to his squad this month, primarily up front, with Sunderland netting just 18 goals in 21 Premier League outings so far this season. The Sunderland boss believes he has addressed that deficiency in landing Defoe and expects that to be the end of the new arrivals at the Stadium of Light in this window. “It will be very difficult and unexpected to bring in anyone else,” said Poyet “I said quality, not quantity. “I said we needed someone special up front. That’s it. “We cannot control what happens the other way. “If someone comes for one of our players, we need to analyse that if it comes. “But at the moment we’re alright. Most of the players should be fit next week and we’ll have a full squad. “I’m really looking forward to seeing if we can adapt to whatever system we can play.” Sunderland still have one domestic loan available to them, should circumstances change over the next fortnight. And the Black Cats have also been keeping tabs over potential defensive recruits, with Celtic centre-half Virgil van Dijk and Leeds full-back Sam Byram both on the radar. But boosting Sunderland’s options at the back will be the priority during the summer, with veterans Wes Brown and Anthony Reveillere both out-of-contract at the end of the season and Sebastian Coates and Santiago Vergini at the Stadium of Light on loan deals, albeit there is a permanent option for the latter. ------------------------------------------------------ This worries me, a lot
Cards close to chest i think, if we do only pull off this bit of business it will still be the best bit ever
Jozy was supposedly on 60k a week... if you take into account Jozy's wages off the wage bill whether they be 30k p/w or 60k p/w its not as bad really
tbh id of said he was on 30-40k however if his wage demands for Toronto were anything to go off it is possible...
And him : Sunderland are eyeing Ajax's Danish midfielder Lasse Schone. Schone, 28, has made it clear he will not sign a new deal and Ajax might sell before his contract runs down. The versatile international has been with the Dutch giants for two years, whom he joined from NEC in 2012. Schone would give the Black Cats a much-needed goalscoring threat from midfield or wide. He has netted 20 times in 70 appearances in Amsterdam.
If we can ship out DG and Cabral for the next 6 months I'd be staggered if we don't get a couple of loan players in.
I wouldn`t expect business to be finished. The Defoe/Altidore deal cost zilch so whatever was in the kitty before is still there. There`s also a loan space to fill.
I hope this is Gus playing office politics, coz if we are putting all our apples in 1 Defoe basket we could be in deep **** if Defoe twists his ankle, or pulls a hamstring in his first game! 18 goals in 21 games highlights our problem. That sentence sums up our recent past and our future. Everything depends on us improving those statistics. And 1 signing won't be enough.
Have no idea if this is true, but on another footy board (Fanatsy Football Scout, I'm addicted to the game I'm afraid) a well known member says that Defoe isn't fit, and that's why Toronto were eager to sell. Sounds fishy, as I know he has trained with both Spurs and us over the last weeks, but, was wondering if anyone else has heard similar. ****ing hope not.
I've just watched him in a game against Heracles I think it was and he scored a couple, one of them was a belta free kick. Looked lightweight though, didn't influence the game a great deal and I personally didn't see anything in him that would improve our team.
