Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray urges patience in striker hunt

Seems Sunderland will have to wait a little longer for news of a transfer breakthrough.

Sunderland are not close to any kind of a transfer breakthrough, according to head coach Tony Mowbray.

The Black Cats are, ideally, hoping to sign two strikers and a central midfielder this month to cover for the departures of Ellis Simms, who was recalled by Everton, and Jay Matete, who has joined Plymouth on loan.

A slew of names have been mentioned in the press, most recently Genk striker Andras Nemeth, but it seems nothing is especially close.

Asked for the latest on Sunderland’s transfer hopes this month, Mowbray said: “There is no real update from me.

“We have a recruitment meeting and all the recruitment staff are in. We will be going through where we are on certain enquiries.

“Like every window it’s very rare you have all your ducks lined up and you just sign players from day one.

“We are working hard and conversations have been had, not necessarily by me, but we have meetings today to tell us where we are with certain deals.

Although there may be mounting frustration among the Sunderland fanbase that there has been no transfer breakthrough yet, Mowbray has also urged calm.

“They are generally drawn-out situations where you want to get somebody as cheap as you can, they want as much money for their player as they can and somewhere in between there is a number that ticks everybody’s box.

“There’s a time period that goes between the start and finish of these deals.”

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