Sunderland's next big transfer priority explained - #onthewhistle - video Dailymotion

Phil Smith discusses the state of play with Sunderland in the transfer market following the 1-1 draw with Sevilla

Transcript

00:00Akko and Michael who say Akko says great to get to see these signings but when will we get centre

00:05back surely we must get one in soon to gel with the team Michael says now with the front line

00:09seemingly sorted is the priority now to get top quality centre half in feel like that second half

00:14showed just how thin we are in that area of the pitch currently undoubtedly this has to be kind

00:19of the the big transfer priority now for Sunderland I think that obviously the Lorienter deal became

00:24really important especially with that Mundell injury because that just gives them more cover

00:28and depth and competition and firepower out wide and through the middle and so that was a really

00:32important one so I can totally see why Sunderland have moved on that quickly I think it's very clear

00:36that the the defence is the big area of the pitch where especially with Luke O'Neill injured

00:40Sunderland at the moment just don't don't look Premier League ready and I think as you say massive

00:44credit to those young lads but clearly the second half showed that it's both of the briefs after the

00:49game and he made very clear that the club were absolutely aware of this so much transfer work

00:53going on out in here in Faro this week I can't stress that enough and Florent Gasolfi is out here

00:59Stuart Harvey is out here Kirill Louis-Dreyfus is out here Christian Speedman is out here

01:03you know LaBrice is spending half his time coaching in the other half in recruitment meetings so this is

01:07this is something that they're absolutely across you know LaBrice basically told me you know kind

01:11of summed up Sunderland's dilemma to me where listen they want a high caliber centre half and they want

01:17someone who can come in a little bit like some of these players have another position to the pitch

01:21and you straight away go yeah okay this is a Premier League player this is an upgrade and I think

01:24you can see that in some of the players that we've already seen linked there will be other

01:27others whose names aren't out there but Diakete from Lille, John Lasumi from Bologna we're talking

01:32about you know players really experienced at the top level so I don't think there's any doubt

01:36whatsoever that the Sunderland are looking for a high caliber player and that means that you have

01:40to be patient and I think that's what's going on at the moment Sunderland are trying to get

01:44the right target but what LaBrice did also say to me is we understand that we don't have time to waste

01:49we need to be ready for the start of the season so I would expect that to develop in the not too

01:53distant future to be honest I think Sunderland understand that they need to get that business

01:58done so I think that's definitely yeah very definitely one to watch and I think we probably

02:04will at some point in the next year we can see movement on the goalkeeper front as well I think

02:08it's clear that Sunderland won some top level competition for Anthony Patterson as well so I still

02:12think those are two big things to look forward in the coming weeks Gordon says do we get defenders

02:20on loan or does the club keep surprising us by buying us what we need don't get me wrong I think

02:24we're doing really good business this time around long may I continue Gordon I think you sum up

02:27everyone's feelings excited please but also would like more and I think that's totally fine

02:31I think as I say I think the club are not done yet in terms of those big acquisitions I think

02:37there's still a couple to come centre I've been one potentially depending on the target goalkeeper

02:42being another I wouldn't be surprised if they use the loan mark at Gordon I think one of the things

02:46that last night did show is that there's a talented core here but the depth isn't quite there and I

02:49wouldn't be surprised if they use the loan mark to sort of flesh that out but I do think there's still

02:53a couple of significant signs to come Gordon I think it's clear that they want upgrades in the

02:57in the kind of the spine of the pitch still and so I think we might have one or two more of those

03:02exciting here we goes from Fabrizio's to come somewhere down the line